


Stargate Aschen (Abridged Version)

by Kimberley Jackson (KimberleyJackson)



Category: Stargate - All Series, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Reality, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Aschen, Daniel Jackson/Jack O'Neill Friendship, F/M, POV Jack O'Neill, POV Sam Carter, Romance, Sam Carter/Cameron Mitchell Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-28
Updated: 2015-07-03
Packaged: 2018-02-22 22:56:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 51
Words: 290,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2524763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KimberleyJackson/pseuds/Kimberley%20Jackson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Science-Fiction Romance.</p><p>In the year 799 (Aschen calender), Earth is a colony under strict reign by an oppressive Aschen government. They have  seized control over the entire planet, including the Stargate. Humanity is at the brink of extinction. Human lifespan has almost tripled, but most of the human population is born infertile. Only a small percent of humans are so-called gifted ones, who are able to conceive/father children. Strict rules apply to these gifted ones, as the Aschen want to uphold the human population.</p><p>Sam Carter is 25 years old. She has just come of age and undergoes her first fertility tests. When her tests turn out positive, her life is about to take a dramatic turn for the worse. Unwilling to accept a forced marriage and life in a breeding facility under Aschen control, she runs away from home to find the resistance and fight for the freedom of Earth as well as her own.<br/>As she meets Jack O'Neill, camp leader of resistance Cell 4, neither of them realizes they are bound together by more than the mutual goal to free Earth from Aschen reign. Side by side, they fight to liberate their world using a second, secret Stargate found almost a century before in the Antarctica forests...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Favor

**Author's Note:**

> This is the new version of "Stargate Aschen", completely revised style-wise. 
> 
> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> Also, this version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).
> 
> Now you can also find an ebook version of this story on my website, including lots of bonus material as well as the first publication version of Stargate Aschen. (Click image to download.)  
> 
> 
>  
> 
> [ ](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-free-stargate-sg-1-ebook/)  
> 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #### Wanna read more work by Kimberley Jackson? Visit her official website where you'll find some website-exclusive Sam/Jack stories.
> 
>   
>  [ ](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/)

_Year 799 – Aschen Colony Earth: Somewhere in the Northern Hemisphere_

 

Jack O’Neill ignored the two drunken men who passed by him and closed the door. He looked around the foggy bar room. As always, the bar was crowded with a bizarre mixture of cutthroats, criminals and farmers. Gruff looking men threw darts, drank too much and laughed too loud. This wasn’t the place he would have come to had he had any other choice.

Too bad, most establishments like these were banned. It was getting harder to find places to meet, at least in the area around Powhatan City, the center of commerce between Earth and the Aschen.

He passed by a pool table and gently nudged a young woman who had stumbled into him out of the way. Once he reached the counter, he placed a few silver coins on the wood and looked at the elderly bartender. The man passed him a mug of beer and nodded toward the back of the room.

Jack turned, and a man ran into him, spilling most of his beer. Great, just what he needed. Ever since the Aschen governor had closed down most of the bars in an effort to limit illegal activities, this place was seriously overcrowded. Time to pick a new meeting spot.

He slid into the shadowy booth at the end of the room and sat down on a bench opposite an older man, who scowled at him.

“About time.”

Jack glared at him. “Not everyone lives close by, you know.”

“Have you heard about the uprisings in the East?”

Jack took a long gulp of his beer and studied the older man. At past eighty, Jacob Carter’s hair bore flecks of gray, his face reflecting the kind of serious relentlessness typical for workers in the Aschen Ministry. “I haven’t. Is that why you wanted to meet me?”

“It’s not, actually.” Carter looked down and fiddled with his hands. Jack raised his eyebrows. This was odd. He’d never seen him nervous to the point of being awkward.  “You know I wouldn’t ask you this if I thought there was any other way to resolve the situation.”

“Ask me what?” Jack took another sip of his beer. Over the years, he and Jacob had often worked together, so one asking a favor of the other wasn’t unusual.

“I need you to marry my daughter.”

Jack choked on his beer. “Excuse me?”

“She just had her fertility tests and they came back positive. She’s gifted, Jack.” Jacob closed his eyes.

Damn. Jack winced in sympathy, and put down his glass. “Sorry to hear that.” Like Jacob, he could still remember how he’d found out that he was gifted, and the horror that had come with the test results. That still didn’t explain… “How would marrying her solve that problem?”

“I deleted her test results from the system.”

“Damn, Jacob!” Jack shook his head. “That’s a risk and you know that.”

“What was I supposed to do? She’s my daughter.”

“They’re gonna find out anyway in her follow-ups in a coupla months.” As much as he understood the man’s compassion for his own daughter, in his position Jacob should know better than to take unnecessary risks.

Jacob clenched his beer glass. “Yes, but if she’s already married to a gifted man, I can at least spare her the humiliating experience of the breeding facilities.”

“And you think I’m the best possible choice? I’m not exactly known for winning the husband–of-the-year award.” Jack smiled grimly while he scraped a hand through his hair. “Besides, she’s quite a bit younger than I am. I could be her father, for crying out loud.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Jack, you’re forty-one. She just turned twenty-five. Besides, age isn’t really the main consideration in contracts like this.”

Jack sighed and took another sip of his beer before he nodded. “I know. The curse of being born as a gifted one.”

“Don’t be so sarcastic. You know the deal. Gifted women are married off to the most genetically compatible male and I don’t need to tell you about the standard mindset of those ‘arranged’ husbands.” His dark gaze held Jack’s. “I don’t want her to go through what her mother went through—or what you went through with your wife. Her mother and I could barely stand each other, and she killed herself when our daughter was twelve.”

“It would still be a forced contract. A forced marriage.”

Jacob sighed, and for a moment, his face reflected his age and the sorrows that troubled him; sorrows that came with their work, and with having a family whom one wanted to protect from the Aschen government. “Yes, but to be honest, there are men out there much worse than you.”

Jack shot him a wry look. “Thanks, that helps.”

“What I meant was, it’s too easy to get caught up in Aschen promises and chase after the rewards they offer for fathering children. I myself should have paid more attention to my wife’s feelings when I still had the time. Most of the gifted males are collaborators, and a lot of them will use force to make their wives comply.” Jacob gave a deep sigh. “You’ve never been one to chase after the promotions and monetary rewards for producing offspring. I know you would treat her with respect.” Jacob looked down into his glass.

The years of knowing the truth—of unsuccessfully fighting the Aschen—had taken its toll, Jack knew that. He himself sometimes felt as though the burden of the knowledge crushed his soul.

Still, another marriage? And an arranged one at that? He’d never go down that road again. Not after Sara had…

“I can’t tell you how much I had hoped her test would come back negative. Hell, I even made sure she got a higher dosage of vaccine than other children, in hopes she would not turn out…” He shook his head and gripped Jack’s arm tightly. “Please, Jack. I know you never intended to marry again, but if you ever thought you owe me anything for saving your life, now is the time to repay.”

“Hardly the time to play the guilt card, Jacob.” Jack’s grip on his glass tightened. “You have to understand what you’re asking of me here. I despised my marriage. Every single second of it. Even if I agreed to marry your daughter, the Aschen Ministry would expect her to get pregnant soon. I would have to…” He trailed off and closed his eyes. Never again. The first marriage the Aschen had forced him into was enough.

“She’s smart. A lot smarter than both of us. She’s a little spoiled, but kind-hearted. She’s not ugly either.”

“Oh, for crying out loud.” Jack pulled his arm out of the older man’s grip. “It’s not about attraction or beauty. I’ve never seen the girl, or talked to her. She hasn’t seen me. Does she even know you’re doing this?”

“No. She doesn’t even know that her test was positive yet. Chances are so slim, I don’t think she expects it.”

“Great.” Jack grimaced. “So she’d be infuriated at best.” He shook his head, wanting to add something, but Jacob didn’t let him finish.

“She’ll get over it. You’re an attractive man.”

“Oookay. I’m leaving now. This conversation just took a weird turn. No, actually it’s been weird since I got here.” He pulled a few silver coins to pay for his beer out of his pocket.

“Hell.” Jacob yanked him back down, his eyes blazing. “You think this is a joke?”

“Kinda hope it is.”

Jacob sighed. “Jack, what would you do if you had a daughter?”

“For starters, I certainly wouldn’t try to marry her off to you.” Okay, maybe the comparison wasn’t quite fitting, given Jacob’s advanced age. Still, asking somebody to marry their daughter was, at least in his book, not something you brought up in a five-minute-conversation. Jack sighed. It wasn’t like he didn’t understand where Jacob was coming from. As a matter of fact if it had been his daughter he might have come up with a similar solution. And yet.

“What can you tell me about her, character-wise? What does she like? I wanna know what I’d be getting myself into.” Oh great. He was already half-way agreeing.

Jacob was right, though. The older man had saved his lived all those years ago. Not just that, he’d been responsible for the way his life had turned out. He did owe him for that.

“Well, mostly she reads. She has a passion for sciences.”

Jack rolled his eyes. A geek girl. Great, just what he needed.

“I know what you think now, but you two would get along well.”

“I didn’t even know girls were allowed to attend universities again.”

“They aren’t. I had her homeschooled. Margareth and I hired the best teachers once we realized how smart she is. It was one of the few things we actually agreed on.”

“I see.” Didn’t really improve the matter. He tried to stay away from scientists as much as it was possible, and now Jacob wanted him to marry one? “Does she know about your work in our group?”

Jacob shook his head. “No. I never told her about the resistance. As far as she’s concerned, I’m one of the human officials in the Aschen Ministry—a collaborator.”

Jack folded his arms. “That might be a problem. I don’t have a cover job as you do. What do you expect me to tell her? Hell, I’m hardly ever anywhere else but at camp.”

“I was hoping that her knowledge and skills might benefit our cause. We could bring her in, Jack. You wouldn’t have to keep it secret.”

Jack closed his eyes and inhaled. He hadn’t planned on marrying, but it would be cruel to leave the poor girl to her fate. They didn’t have to get along well. They didn’t even have to be friends. They’d just have to have a child in one or two years to satisfy the Aschen government. The rest could be for appearances sake. “All right. I want her to agree to it, though. Otherwise the deal’s off. Do you at least have a photo of her?”

“Not with me, no. She has long, blonde hair, and blue eyes. She’s not very outgoing. I keep telling her to meet some friends, but she prefers to stay home and read. The only time she does go out is to hang out with this guy, Larek.” Jacob fisted his hands.

Jack raised his eyebrows, his jaw clenching. “Are you telling me she has a boyfriend?”

“No, I made it very clear to her that I don’t want her to start a serious relationship with him.”

“Yeah, cause that always works out.” Jack put his beer glass down more forcefully than intended. “Jeez, Jacob! Your daughter’s is in love with another guy.”

“He’s an Aschen.” Jacob held his gaze. “You know what’ll happen once he learns that she’s gifted. Listen, I’m not saying the situation is ideal. But I’d rather her heart was broken now to give her a chance at happiness, than to watch her get caught in the breeding system. You know what they do to women once they’re in those facilities.”

“You really think I’m a good choice? I’m sarcastic, involved in my work, I don’t exactly have a history of working relationships, and according to Dr. Jackson I can be quite an ass—his words, not mine.”

“You’re an honest man, Jack. I know you would never do anything to hurt her. The fact that you have these concerns just confirms your integrity. I want my daughter to have the chance of working in the sciences, and I know that you’ll make sure that happens.”

Jack inhaled deeply and finally nodded. “Alright. Fine. But I want her to consent. I won’t take another crying bride home, understood?”

Jacob lifted his hands in defeat. “Alright. She’s a reasonable young woman, I am sure she will come to terms with it. Do you want to make it official right away?”

“Might as well.”

Jacob pulled out a piece of paper, a formal marriage contract. Jack watched as the older man filled in the details. Jacob signed the paper before he handed the pen over to him. Jack thumped the pen on the paper. This was a bad idea, he just knew it. He put his signature under Jacob’s before he pushed it back over to him.

“All right.” Jacob nodded and his face brightened. “Congratulations. You’re now a married man.”

Jack growled and took a huge sip of his beer. Yep, this was probably one of the most ill advised choices of his entire life.


	2. Crossroads

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the new version of "Stargate Aschen", completely revised style-wise. 
> 
> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> Also, this version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

“Samantha!”

Sam’s head snapped up. The room was so dark, she could barely make out the hands on the clock. The computer screen flickered in front of her. She quickly closed out the programs she had open. It hadn’t taken Minny long to clean the bed sheets today.

“Sam?” The housekeeper’s voice drifted from upstairs.

“Down here.” Sam entered the computer shutdown command and got up from the chair. It was only a matter of seconds before their housekeeper would peek down the round staircase and inevitably deduce what she’d been doing. Her footsteps hurried across the main library room above.

“Are you accessing the computer again?” The reproach in her ex-nanny’s voice vaguely brought Sam back to her childhood days. She winced. Why on Earth did this damn system have to take so long? “You know your father’s opinion about unauthorized computer accesses.”

Sam hurried to pick up the books she’d collected earlier and rushed to the staircase. Not a moment too late. She smiled innocently at Minny, who was just starting down the stairs.

“My father has strong opinions about a lot of things I do.” She passed by the older woman and placed the heavy books on the table in front of a bookshelf to put them back in where they belonged. “Mainly because he thinks I can’t do anything without his guidance.” After every book was back on the shelf, she turned around and lifted her chin. “That doesn’t mean I’m not more than capable, though.”

“I really wish you hadn’t inherited your father’s stubbornness.” The old housekeeper shook her head. Sam rolled her eyes and walked towards the door to the hallway.  Minny’s footsteps scurried behind her. “You know it’s dangerous to access the system without authorization.”

“Only if you don’t know what you’re doing.” Sam made her way backwards along the small corridor that led to the entrance foyer and her study rooms. “I cracked the algorithm behind the Aschen’s access codes months ago. When I access their system now, it looks as though I’m a shadow. You wouldn’t get suspicious of your own shadow, would you?”

The nanny shook her head with a melodramatic sigh. “You’re much too reckless. And too smart for your own good if you ask me.”

“Some people need to be more reckless. My father’s been working for the Ministry his entire life, and yet he doesn’t dare question their methods.” Sam blew a strand of long blonde hair out of her face. “Sometimes I wish he weren’t such an ass-kissing—“

“Watch your mouth, young lady!” The housekeeper’s eyes hardened and Sam winced. Minny didn’t get angry very often, but when she did, one had to be careful. “Your father sacrificed a lot to provide you and your brothers with the best education and every opportunity in life. Without the money he earns in the Ministry’s service, you wouldn’t have been able to get the books or the teachers you need for studying. Never forget that.”

“Yeah.” Sam scoffed. “And what am I ever going to use that education for? They don’t allow humans, especially women, to work in the sciences. Sometimes I wish he hadn’t paid for all those expensive teachers, because then I wouldn’t be aware of what I can’t have. The best I can hope for is to spend my life tending a farm or improving crop machines in the neighborhood.” She dropped her arms in frustration. “Now that I know my own potential, I know that I have something to contribute. I want to go through the Stargate.”

“Samantha Carter, don’t be ridiculous. They don’t allow human research teams to travel to the Aschen homeworld.”

Damn it, how could she be the only one who wanted this? The big circular portal located at the center of Powhatan City had fascinated her ever since she’d understood its purpose. A gateway to another planet, thousands of light-years away. So far, it wasn’t visible to the naked eye in the night sky. If only she were allowed to step through it. If only she weren’t born human.

“I don’t think the gate leads only to their home planet. I don’t even think that the Aschen are the ones who built it. They say they did, but I’ve hacked into their system. It looks as though the program they use is designed to bridge a gap between their system and the Stargate one. What if there are other worlds out there? Worlds we don’t know about?” Sam looked at the housekeeper. Excitement shot through her as all the possible consequences for such a discovery flashed through her mind. “What if there are other people like us in our galaxy? Or people even more advanced than the Aschen?”

“It doesn’t matter, because they’ll never allow you to use it, so there is no point in even discussing it.”

“Why doesn’t that make you angry?” Sam shook her head. “Earth is our planet. The Aschen shouldn’t be in a position to tell us what we can and can’t do. Only oppressors do that.”

The nanny clutched her chest with a terrified gasp. Just for a moment it looked as if she was about to faint. “Samantha Carter, you know how dangerous this kind of talk is. If I didn’t know better I’d say you’re sympathizing with the…” She cleared her throat. “…that you were out of your mind.”

Sam froze on the spot and grabbed her shoulders. “Resistance? Was that what you were about to say?”

“Enough now.” Minny brushed her off curtly. “You know the resistance is just a legend, a rumor that’s been around for almost as long as the story of the ghost in the mill.”

“Yes, except that ghosts in the mill don’t cause power outages.” Sam released her. Minny was right, talk like that was dangerous. Even more evidence as to how oppressed the human population was. “And ghosts also don’t place bombs near the Aschen Ministry, or the district where their government officials live.”

“Those incidents were declared accidents.” Again, Minny started following her.

Sam laughed. “I know. I watched the official reports. But I also accessed the Aschen computer system and their classified files, remember?” She smiled sheepishly. Minny ran after her.

“Sam, you have to forget about… whatever it is that’s going through your mind right now.” Desperation dripped through her voice.

“Minny.” Her tone was urgent now that they’d entered her private room. “Imagine if the resistance really existed. We could get rid of the Aschen. It would be a chance for me to do something with my knowledge other than planting crops.”

“Sam!” She spun around at the anger in Minny’s voice. “Even if they existed, they would be considered traitors and terrorists. Outlaws who’d be sentenced to death once they were captured.”

Sam walked to her mirror and started braiding her long hair so that it wouldn’t fall into her face. From the corner of her eye, she observed her nanny. Poor woman. She’d lived under the Aschen rule for all of the one-hundred-twenty-nine years of her life. And Minny had never been a person to question the existing structure. She took her orders, and at the end of the day went home to her retired farmer husband.

“Don’t worry, Minny. I wasn’t serious. You know me and my mind experiments. I like to think about things.” Sam pulled her top over her head to change into another one that revealed a lot more cleavage and hugged her body like a second skin. “Besides, if I left here, I wouldn’t be able to see Larek anymore.”

The sound of a throat being cleared made Sam turn. Her father leaned against the doorframe. “Going somewhere?”

“Dad, I didn’t know you were back already. I thought the Ministry briefing would go on ‘til the evening. I was just about to meet Larek.”

“Not today.” Her father scowled at her and turned to the housekeeper. “Minny, would you start preparing dinner?”

“Of course, sir.” The nanny bowed her head, and with a last glance at Sam turned and left.

He looked at Sam. “Come with me, please. There is something we need to discuss.” He left the room and Sam followed him, fiddling with the remaining strands of her hair. Why did he sound so serious? Her stomach clenched as she considered the possibility that she might be in trouble. Had one of her unauthorized computer accesses been discovered by the Aschen?

“What’s the matter, dad?” She followed him down the stairs to the ground floor. “Can’t this wait until later? Larek and I actually wanted—“

“Now, Sam.”

“Yes, sir.” She sighed, and entered his private study room after him. If she was in trouble, it was better to cooperate and do some damage control. She closed the heavy oak door. “Did I do something wrong?”

Jacob sighed as he sat down in his chair. “No. Come here, honey, sit down. Please.” He pulled a chair close for her.

Unease pricked at her. Her father had never been this serious, not even when she’d gotten into trouble as a child. She sat down next to him.

“Do you remember the medical tests you went through at the doctor’s office a couple of weeks ago?”

Sam nodded. “Of course, the standard fertility tests.”

“Do you know what happens to those who get tested positive?”

“Yes, I read an article about it recently. It’s fascinating, really. Only about eight percent of adults in every generation end up fertile. A side effect of the Aschen vaccinations, apparently.” Sam raised her eyebrows when her father released a heavy sigh. Why was he bringing this up? Could it be…? No, impossible. “Dad, what are you saying?” Her voice shook.

“Sam.” He took her hand between his and looked her in the eyes. “You tested positive.”

She stared at him. Her stomach clenched as though somebody had punched her. What he said couldn’t be true. It wasn’t possible – well, it was, but with a chance of roughly eight to ten percent, it was extremely unlikely. Her heartbeat thrashed in her ears, and her throat constricted. “No. Dad, that has to be a mistake. Mark, James, and David aren’t gifted. It doesn’t run in the family. They have to run the test again.”

“They did, honey. Every test is run three times to rule out false positives. All three accounts confirmed you’re gifted.”

She jumped up from her chair and started pacing the room. It would have never occurred to her working on improving crop machines might not even be the worst outcome of her life. As a gifted woman, she would end up under the strict watch of the Aschen government; she’d be assigned a husband and given the sole purpose of bearing children. And if she didn’t cooperate…

“Oh, God.” The world spun and she closed her eyes. “Please tell me it isn’t not true.”

“I’m afraid it is.” The chair creaked as her father leaned back with a tortured groan.

“What about Larek?”

“Sam, honey, you know how he’ll react once he learns about your test results. He’s Aschen.”

Her eyes shot open and she pressed her lips together. “No, he’ll understand.” She turned around. “Maybe he could help me. If he and I… If we married…”

“Sam.” Her dad’s eyes fixated on her. “You’re deluding yourself if you think an Aschen man will help you.”

She glared at her father. “You’ve never liked him, have you? He’s different. If you’d taken the time to get to know him, you’d understand that.”

“Sam.” Her father lifted his hands. “I don’t want to fight about that now. Aschen men never take human women as their wives, let alone fertile human women. They play around with them as long as it’s convenient, but that’s all.”

“You don’t even know him.” She blinked back hot tears. “He’s not like the rest of them!”

He buried his face in his hands for a long moment and then shook his head gently. “He is.”

“You don’t know him, dad.”

How dare he pass judgment on a man he’d never met. He’d religiously refused to meet Larek ever since she had first told him about their relationship. Even though he’d never forbidden her to meet with Larek, he’d made clear he didn’t support her relationship with him. “I wish you’d trust my judgment just once.”

“He’ll break your heart. Aschen men don’t risk producing mixed-breeds. It’s too much of a legal classification issue.” He rubbed his palm over his face. “They’re obsessed with keeping the races separate, and only intermingle with human women for fun.” He studied her intensely. “Sam. Did you… I mean, have you ever… broken the sexual restrictions law with him?”

“What?” Sam shook her head. She knew exactly what her father was asking. Sex was forbidden for humans until their first fertility tests at age twenty-five confirmed they were not gifted, but it wasn’t uncommon for young adults to ignore the law.

Her cheeks turned hot. Answering a question like that to her father. How embarrassing. Sadly, it was only a fraction of what was about to come. Nothing in her life would be her own anymore. Everything would be government-regulated from now on. The food she ate, when she ate, when she would be allowed to leave the house, the days of the month when she’d have to have sexual intercourse and with whom she would have it.

“No.” Her mind numbed, surrender taking over. “No, I didn’t.”

“Good.” Her father exhaled as though a stone was lifted from his chest. “I wouldn’t want things to get more complicated. Now, please sit down, there is more to talk about.”

“I know the drill, Dad. Ministry officials will come and take me to one of the science labs where they’ll determine the most genetically compatible male.” She recited the proceedings she’d heard about so often. From teachers, from Aschen reports. Never had it occurred to her she might one day face them herself. If only she could wake up from this nightmare.

“No.” Jacob opened the top drawer of his desk to pull out a piece of paper. Sam recognized the official seal of the Aschen government on it. “I made sure your test results would disappear for now. That’s not a permanent solution though. It’ll be impossible to do the same with the bi-monthly follow-up tests, so I’ve come up with a more permanent solution.”

Sam sank down into the chair and narrowed her eyes at him as his expression changed and he leaned forward.

“You’re not going to like this, but it’s the only way to keep you safe, even if they find out you’re gifted.”

“Dad?” Her voice was almost toneless. What could possibly be worse than the Aschen regulations imposed on gifted people? “What did you do?”

“An old friend of mine who’s gifted happens to be available for marriage. If you’re already married to a compatible male once they find out you’re gifted, they won’t break that bond up. It’s the only exception to an otherwise very explicit rule.”

Sam shook her head. “Oh, God.” He couldn’t be serious. He could not have done what he insinuated.

“I talked to him a few days ago. He used to be married, but his wife ran away after their first child died in an accident. They’re officially divorced, which makes him eligible for re-marriage, though his name hasn’t been on the gifted list for years. Since I was the one who took it off the list back in the days, there was an easy way of fixing that.”

“Oh god. Dad.” Sam fisted her hands. He really expected her to marry a stranger, a man whom she had never even met before. “Dad, please no.”

“He agreed to take you as his wife, Sam. We’ve already signed the contract, and I handed it in to the authorities two days ago. I got confirmation today, the Ministry signed it off. Since he’s gifted, they won’t force you to go through official procedures, even if they find out about your test.”

“Why didn’t you…” Her voice broke, and she took a shaky breath. Why hadn’t he talked to her beforehand? Why hadn’t he let her make the decision herself?

“Sam, honey.” Her father squeezed her hands softly. “It’s the only way to—“

“No!” She blinked against her tears. “Why did you even erase my test results if you planned on doing their job? I know you think it makes a difference. But there’s really none from where I stand.” Her words had to hurt him, she could read it in his eyes, but she didn’t care.

“He’s a good man. Wait until you two get to know each other. You’ll see that he has a lot to offer that can benefit your future.”

Sam pulled her hands out of her fathers and shook her head. “Why did you go behind my back? You could have talked to me about the possibility and then let me make the choice. Instead you made it final without consulting me. It is my life, and my future, dad. Why couldn’t you just let me make my own decision?”

“Decision?” Her father’s voice hardened. “What decision was there to be made for you? Did you think you’d have a say in who you’ll marry with the Aschen Ministry? Did you think they would let you choose anything?”

“No. I know they wouldn’t. But now you’re no better than them.” Her hands slammed down on his desk as she got up. “Did it ever even occur to you that I might be able to make my own choices? You could have brought this guy home, and I could have met him beforehand.” Another thought occurred to her. An old friend, he had said. The image of a man her father’s age sprang to mind, and she shuddered. Surely, he wouldn’t have… “God, how old is he?”

“Sam, calm down. He’s only sixteen years older than you. I know, at your age that sounds like a lot, but once you get older, it won’t matter that much anymore. He’ll treat you with respect. And he promised to protect you.”

“Oh for god’s sake. I don’t need protection, Dad. I can take care of myself.” She paced the room again. Sixteen years. That wasn’t as bad as she’d feared. Still. Bad enough. “That is just the problem. You made sure I got all those expensive teachers to learn everything about the world, and the universe. But you never trusted me to be strong enough to use all that I learned to stand on my own feet.”

“Sam, enough,” Jacob snapped. “I’ve never wanted anything less than the best for you, and for you to be happy. You know that.”

“Marrying an older man I don’t even know? That’s what’s best for me? That’s going to make me happy? We live in the year 799, and not in medieval times. Forced marriages went out of fashion centuries ago.”

Jacob jerked up, his jaw clenched. “Not for gifted people. You have to stop thinking like a non-gifted woman.”

“It is my life, gifted or not.” It was the first time she dared to openly oppose one of her father’s orders. She couldn’t just accept it. Not this time, when her future depended on it. “You can tell this friend of yours that the contract is off. I won’t be his wife.”

“The contract is binding.” Jacob’s voice rumbled. “As I told you, it has passed the approval phase.”

Sam stared at him and pressed her lips together. This was useless. He was unwilling to compromise, and so was she. Lifting her chin, she turned around and walked to the door.

“Sam! Samantha! Where do you think you’re going?”

“I have a date with my boyfriend, Dad.” Without looking back, she slammed the door shut in his face.

“Sam.” His bellow echoed through the thick wood. The chair scraped across the wooden floor as he got up. “Don’t you dare leave this house! … Sam!”

She didn’t care what else he had to say. He’d made clear the matter wasn’t open for discussion. Well, she’d have to see about that. She ran to the front door.

When it slammed shut behind her, she inhaled the warm, humid summer air. The scent of fresh cut grass filled her nostrils. A fog lifted from her mind.

She would take care of the problem in her own way. She would talk to Larek. They’d dated for almost a year. He was her best friend, her lover. Surely, he’d be able to help her. He had connections. His father was one of the Aschen officials, and if they talked to him, he’d be able to pull some strings. And if there was no other choice, there was always the option of eloping…

 

***

 

Darkness swallowed the wide open fields. Sam slowly walked back towards her father’s house. Pouring rain and mild fog prevented her from seeing the lights of Powhatan City in the distance. Not that she cared for the lights, or the rain and thunder, or that her clothing was soaked.

Her chest shook with sobs. Her entire world had been shattered to pieces in a matter of hours; first her father’s revelation about her being gifted, and then Larek’s reaction to it. The expression on Larek’s face had turned distant when she’d told him the truth.

_“Larek, you’re serious about our relationship, aren’t you?”_

_“Of course, sugar.” He leaned in to kiss her, but she evaded his lips._

_“You really love me, don’t you?”_

_He laughed. “Of course I do. What’s the matter?”_

_“You wouldn’t leave me, would you? No matter what?”_

_“Sam, what’s going on?”_

Then she’d told him about her test—and his face had changed. Just like that, from one moment to the next, he’d looked at her as though she were some kind of freaky mutation. He turned away from her, withdrawing his hand from her touch as if she had some kind of rare infectious disease.

Deep inside, she had known the truth then. But she didn’t want to believe it. She’d tried to talk to him, tried to assure him nothing had changed, but he’d looked at her with contempt and disgust in his eyes.

_“Nothing has changed? You just told me you qualify for breeding, and yet you say nothing has changed?” He gave a bitter laugh. “I’m not willing to risk producing some kind of inferior mixed-breed with you.”_

_“Inferior?” Her voice had been almost toneless, and she shook her head when the implication of his statement left her dizzy. “You think of me as inferior?”_

_He stood up and glanced down at her the way one would look at a stray dog. “I am Aschen. You are human. Your race is only still here because we need you to work our fields.” With those words, he turned and walked away._

_She jumped up to run after him and grabbed his arm. “You dated me for almost a year. You said you love me.”_

_A sardonic smile crossed his face. “It was fun, Sam. You were easy to get, and easy to keep. Granted, it was a pain you refused to sleep with me, but all things considered now, I guess I should be thankful for that. I enjoyed having you around while it lasted.”_

_“Like… a dog.” She’d turned numb, as her world had started falling to pieces around her._

_“Well, dogs certainly don’t make a scene once they are given away. Did you really think that it was more than just for fun? You are human. You have the social standing of a slave. Go home Sam. Go to your own people.”_

She’d turned around and walked away from him. Her eyes had burned and she didn’t want to let him see her cry.

His words cut deep. He’d been the first man she’d ever fallen in love with, the first man who’d ever made her feel beautiful. And it was all a lie.

All this time his tender words and affections had been little more than a fun pastime for him. He’d never considered her anything other than a slave.

And she hadn’t even realized it. Her father was right. Larek had played with her, like a child played with a toy. Once it lost its appeal, it was discarded.

Rain soaked her clothes. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. Her entire life, all her hopes and dreams for the future had moved into an unachievable distance.

She was so out of it she didn’t realize she’d reached her house until she felt the cold doorknob of the front door in her hand. The door opened with a tiny squeak.

She didn’t bother to ring for Minny. Chances were, the housekeeper had already gone home, especially with the thunderstorm raging outside. She concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, and walked through the entrance hall straight into the kitchen.

She found what she was looking for without turning on the light. Her hand closed around the wooden handle of a large knife, and she drew it soundlessly from its wooden block.

As she climbed the stairs to her room, the door to her father’s study creaked open and she froze. He had to have heard her footsteps. Why was he still awake? Normally he called it an early night.

Sam remained motionless until the thin line of light leaking from the study into the entrance hall disappeared. Her father had closed the door again. 

Much more careful not to make a sound, she climbed up the last flight of stairs. When she entered the room, she shut the door behind her and turned the key in its lock from the inside. If she was going to do this, she didn’t want anybody to come in and find her before it was too late.

She dropped to her knees in front of her large mirror and stared at her reflection for a long moment. 

_Slave…_

Her vision blurred as the word echoed in her head. How accurate that insult was… how accurate it had always been. There was nothing she could do against the Aschen.

There was no way to prevent them from taking control over her life, her body, every aspect of her being.  Her worth from now on would depend solely on how many children her body was capable of bearing before she either died from physical strain, or reached an age where she could no longer conceive children.

There was only one way for her to take control. Only one choice that was still hers to make.

She pressed the cold steel blade to her wrist and inhaled as she tried to gather the courage to make the first cut. It would probably hurt, but if she cut fast and deep enough, it would be only a short moment until she’d fall into a drowsy half-consciousness as the life slowly drained out of her. Just one quick cut. Her only way to be free. Her only way to escape the hell lying ahead of her.

She shifted and her foot hit something. There was a thud and she whipped her head around. A book from the pile sitting next to her bed had fallen to the floor, opening to the middle. She reached out and ran her fingers over the page. A picture of the Milky Way galaxy with its billions of stars stared up at her, each one representing a dream that had moved into the realm of impossibility. Or had it?

She fixated her gaze on her reflection in the mirror. There was another choice, another option she hadn’t considered.

Earth needed to get rid of the Aschen. That was the only way for her to live a normal live, to someday walk through the Stargate. There was only one way to do that.

Her heart started pounding in her ears as she lifted the knife.

The first hank of long, blonde hair dropped to the ground. She became frustrated with the knife and got up to grab the scissors from her desk.

Skein after skein dropped to the floor. As she looked at her reflection again not ten minutes later, her eyes widened. A halo of short blonde hair hung wildly around her head. She dropped the scissors.

She looked like a boy.

Wild.

This would work. She touched her face. Was that really her? The woman staring back at her looked so different. Stronger. And a lot more independent. If only she’d been born as a man… Well, she had to deal with things as they were her way.

From now on, Samantha Carter was no more. Samantha Carter had been a slave, a stupid, naïve girl. Sam Carter would not be a slave. Ever. To anybody. She would stand on her own and find a way to join the resistance if it existed.

Fisting her hands, Sam went to her closet and searched through her clothes. Tank tops in dozens of bright colors, long and short dresses, shirtdresses. All girly, naïve, and innocent. She slammed the drawer shut. That wouldn’t work. She quietly opened her door and peeked out.

Silence. If her father was still in his study, at least he was absorbed in some kind of work.

On her bare feet, she sneaked to the balustrade to look down into the entrance hall. The small yellow line under the study door told her he was inside. She had to be careful. She continued to the other side to her older brother Mark’s old room. Her father hadn’t known what to do with so much space so her brother’s rooms had remained untouched since they’d left. Hopefully that would work to her advantage now.

She entered the room, and momentarily, images from her childhood days flashed in her mind. How Mark had hated it when she’d sneaked into his room to play with his collection of justice agent dolls. She smiled at the memory—fragments of a happier past—and closed the door.

She opened the wardrobe and pulled out one garment after another. Most of them were teen clothes. Mark had taken all of his clothing when he moved out. Only old, oversized pants and a shirt came close to her size.

Sam took them and quietly closed the wardrobe. They would have to suffice. On her way out she took one of Mark’s old overcoats hanging on a rack behind the door. Perfect.

Less than two hours later as her father slept, Sam slipped out of the house. The soft click as the door shut behind her sounded so painfully final. She would not return. Not until she had found what she was searching for.

Not until she had shown the Aschen, and her father, that she was nobody’s slave.


	3. Survivor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the new version of "Stargate Aschen", completely revised style-wise. 
> 
> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> Also, this version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

Sam looked at the silver coins in her hand and sighed. Her other hand pulled the cape closer around her, a flimsy barrier against the cold wind. Icy rain smattered the sidewalks. The weather up here in the North really was a lot colder than she’d expected.

Seven coins… That wouldn’t even last her for the next couple of days. Not if she wanted a roof over her head, and in this weather there wasn’t really an alternative to that. She had to find work.

It had never occurred to her how expensive just the bare necessities were. Minny had taken care of the household finances, and not once had Sam accompanied her on one of her weekly market tours. She’d thought the two-hundred silver coins in savings she’d taken would have lasted her a few months. She gave a bitter chuckle at her own stupidity, and closed her eyes when the rain started coming down harder. 

She grunted when somebody walked into her from behind. A tall man started yelling profanities, shouting at her to get out of his way. The nauseating smell of alcohol wafted from him. She tried to move out of his way, but he grabbed her collar and her hood slid off her head. His eyes widened and a grin stole onto his face.

Okay, time to go. Sam wriggled out of his grasp and hurried off in the other direction. After a few meters she turned to check that he wasn’t following her. Thank God, he disappeared behind the next corner.

Living in her father’s home near Powhatan City in an almost pastoral area, she’d never realized there were places of misery and poverty on Earth. During the past three weeks, she’d begun to realize how spoiled she really was. Daily showers had become a luxury she couldn’t afford anymore – mainly because guesthouses that offered showers cost more than the money she had. On good days, she’d be able to have at least one warm meal.

The backstreets, harbors and sometimes even entire districts in smaller towns were filled with crime, poverty and anger. With all the farmland on Earth, poverty shouldn’t even exist. At least according to official Aschen reports. Another one of those myths, apparently.

Sam pulled the hood back over her head. Not that it mattered. Her hair was soaked. But at least the cloth provided some shelter from the wind.

“Hey… hey girl.”

Sam jerked around when somebody touched her shoulder, and glared at the big man behind her. She’d learned that appearing unfriendly was a good defense against a lot of pestering that happened on the streets. “What?”

“I heard you’re looking for a job.”

Her eyes narrowed.

“Back at the store. You were asking for work.”

“Oh.” She had been. The shop owner had turned her down. Her heart beat faster. A job. Exactly what she needed to earn some money. “Yes, absolutely.”

“If you want, you can earn a few silver coins.”

She studied him. He had to be considerably older than her, and he looked well fed. Well, at least he wasn’t living in poverty, judging by his body mass. “That’d be great. What do you need me to do? I can repair almost anything. I’ll do cleaning or shop work too, and I’m good with numbers.”

“I got a few things that need repairing. I live around the block.”

“Sounds good.”

He looked around and urged her towards a shady backstreet that led in between the houses where buildings provided a shield against the torrent of rain.

“What’s the payment?” Sam looked up at him. The man kept looking around.

“Depends on how good you are.” They reached a smaller backyard framed by walls. The man stopped.

Sam walked up to the only door leading into one of the houses. Since there was no other door, this had to be the man’s home. Her heart almost stopped when he slammed her up against the wall of the house, his body pressing her against it while his fingers started fumbled at her pants.

“Oh God, what are you… let go of me!” Sam’s fist beat at his chest. His foul breath assaulted her nostrils and she turned her head away when he tried to kiss her.

“I’ll pay you twenty silver coins if you don’t scream.” He muttered into her ear, and her stomach turned. “And I promise to be quick.”

“Get off me.” She slammed her hand against the man’s chest, and tried to wriggle out from under him. He grabbed her arm and shoved her roughly against the wall. “Please.” She pressed her hand against his face. “Don’t.”

“Come on, sweetheart. Do you need the money or not?” His rough laughter filled her ears.

No, no, no. This could not be happening. She’d been so careful up to now. How stupid of her to assume the man’s offer had been genuine.

She heard him fumble at his pants, the metallic clicking sound as he opened his belt. Oh God. “Help! Somebody help me!”

A door creaked somewhere, then a loud muttered curse. The next moment, a broomstick came down hard across her face. Pain shot through her head, and she cried out. The fat guy tumbled back from her and Sam used the moment to pull up her knee and hit him right between the legs. She trembled as she pushed him away and turned.

“How often do I need to tell you to keep your dirty, perverted little games out of my backyard, you goddamned son of a…” The old woman screeched as she kept beating at Sam’s attacker.

Oh thank God. Sam’s heart swelled. She was about to thank her rescuer when the woman turned to Sam, anger marking her worn, aged face. She must have been beautiful once. Apparently, rough street life hadn’t been good to her. “And you! You little slut! At least have the decency to get a room somewhere! Just taking your customers into anyone’s backyard, is that how you girls do it nowadays?”

Sam cried out when the broom came down on her head again. “No, please. This is a misunderstanding, I wasn’t…” She started running, and the old woman followed her a few meters before she stopped.

“Scram! And if I ever see you here again…”

Sam didn’t wait for her to finish. She raced through the maze of backstreets until her lungs burned. Finally, when she reached a larger street, she stopped. Tears stung in her eyes. Damn, she should have known better.

Streets in the shady districts were filled with people who committed themselves to a life of crime, like smuggling forbidden substances or weapons. Even slavery and prostitution remained ever-present. She winced. Her fingers rubbed over a painful bump at the side of her head, and with a sigh, she leaned against the wall of a house that shielded her from the rain.

What she wouldn’t give for a warm meal, a hot bath, and a soft bed. But she couldn’t afford such luxuries. Not with seven silver coins.

So far, she hadn’t found any trace of the resistance, nor had she managed to find work to extend her search.

_I should go home to Dad._

She closed her eyes and let herself sink down to the ground. No, she couldn’t go back. Not with the life waiting for her. Anything was better than home. Even hunger or having to sleep on the streets. 

Sam sighed and looked at the dirty silver coins in her hands. Maybe she should consider accepting one of the offers. Four, maybe five men, and she’d have enough money for another one or two weeks. How bad could it be to let them have her body for a few minutes, maybe an hour?

The thought made her shudder. No, she could never do that. If that was her only option, she might as well return home and accept whatever man the Aschen chose for her.

Somewhere in this town there had to be a job for her. She was good with repairing things, she could write and read. Somebody had to have use for those kinds of skills.

 

***

 

Sam looked around the rusty old shop before her gaze fixated on the owner again. “Please, just for one day. I can fix anything, and if you don’t like my work you don’t have to pay me.”

The old shop owner shook his head, and gave her a grumpy look. “I barely have enough work to keep myself busy, kid. Besides, you look barely old enough to know anything about engines.”

Sam pushed out a breath. Posing as a boy wasn’t making things easier. Granted, it kept the perverts away, but her high voice made her seem too young for work.

She rubbed a hand her face. The coal and dirt she’d smeared onto it to mask her female features were starting to itch. Her stomach rumbled. Her last meal had been yesterday. “Please, I’m begging you. Just give me a chance.”

“I can’t help you.”

Tears burned behind her eyes and she swallowed hard. Out of money, she hadn’t slept for almost two days. The only way she’d get a room without coin involved having sex with the guesthouse owner. Falling asleep at the side of one of the backyards or smaller side streets was too risky. Despite her disguise, somebody might still take advantage of her while asleep. She needed money now.

Her stomach gave another growl. Shoulders slumping, Sam turned to leave. “Okay. Thanks for your time.” She touched the metal knob of the glass door and the bell at the entrance rung as she pulled it open.

“Hey, kid.”

Sam looked at him. His face softened.

“I heard earlier they’re looking for a repair crew for one of the Aschen harvesters to go overseas. It would be a one way trip, but it’ll pay a hundred silver coins provided you can work Aschen machinery. Go to the harbor, and ask for Drew. Maybe he can help you. Tell him Old Mallory sent you.”

“Thank you.” Sam gave him a beaming smile. “Thank you so much.”

The man’s face hardened again. “Go.”

She left the shop. Working as a mechanic assistant in one of the Aschen harvesters. That she could manage. Definitely. She was more familiar with Aschen technology than most humans, and aside from that, she was a quick study. As long as she posed as a boy, she should be fine.

As soon as she reached the harbor, her heart sank. Apparently, the news that the Aschen were offering work on a harvester had spread like wildfire through the little town. A long line of men wound its way across the street, all of them strong and muscular.

Great. There was no way they would accept her. Still, it was her best chance so far. Maybe she could make up what she lacked in muscle with brains.

She went to the info stand at the very front to get an application sheet. One of the men securing the stand and the fence around the dock grabbed her arm. “Hey! You.”

Her stomach tightened, and she looked up at him.

“Carlos, get over here! Look at this one!”

Her eyes widened as another man strolled closer.

“What about him, will he do?”

“He’s tall, but he should be slim enough to work on the pipe maintenance. He’s at least the slimmest I’ve seen today. Kid, you looking for work on the harvester?”

She fit their criteria. Excitement shot through her. She nodded, careful not to speak. 

“You know how to handle tools and repair things?”

Sam nodded again, hoping that her determination reflected on her face.

“Good enough for me.” The man named Carlos waved at one of the guards standing at the gate. “Let him in. And tell Drew we’ve found our pipe boy. Payment will be fifty coins for two day’s work, kid.”

Sam cleared her throat, and attempted to fake the deepest voice she was capable of. “I was told payment would be a hundred coins.”

“Who told you that?” Carlos folded his arms.

“Old Mallory at the repair shop on tenth street.”

“Old Mallory sent you?” Carlos raised his eyebrows. Apparently, the name rang a bell. “Well, if Old Mallory sent him, he’s got to have something on the ball.”

“Fine, a hundred silver coins. But if you’re not worth the money we’ll drop you into the Atlantic Ocean, understood, boy?”

Sam nodded and hurried to the open gate before he could change his mind.

“Sign here.” The watch guard held a piece of paper under her nose. It was a standard temporary labor contract. She checked the basics, just to make sure they didn’t screw her over, and then signed it as Sam Carter.

The guard studied her signature, then nodded. Sam inhaled deeply. It sure was an advantage to take a nickname that served as a boy’s name.

“Alright, Sam. Carlos will to show you the crew quarters. We’ll leave at dusk. Payment will be made upon arrival in three days.”

Sam turned. The guard grabbed her arm and leaned in to her. “You can get a hot meal down in the kitchen if you need it.”

Damn, did she look that hungry? Sam nodded with weak smile. “Thanks.”

 

***

 

The work was hard. Upholding her cover as a boy was even harder.

The worker’s quarters were located at the same level as the engine room, and just big enough for twenty people to sleep next to each other like sardines. The washroom was men only, so she had to be creative about using it. The first evening she snuck in at night when everyone else was asleep, and only a skeleton crew of Aschen kept the harvester on route upstairs.

She’d been given fresh clothes to work in, and used some bandages to wrap them around her chest to flatten herself.

It didn’t take long for her to understand why they had looked for slender people. The corn-pipes of the harvester needed maintenance and cleaning. A person slim enough to fit into the small tubes had to crawl in and do the work manually.

The Aschen required them to do sixteen-hour shifts to make sure they would finish the work in three days. They were allowed eight-hour breaks in between, barely enough to sleep and eat. Screws needed to be checked, minor holes in the metal corn tubes had to be sealed, rust eliminated. It was hard work, but nothing she couldn’t handle. Being in the tubes most of the time, she didn’t have a lot of contact with the other men, and that reduced the chances of discovery.

As the third day neared its end and the harvester prepared to land at the southern coast of Ireland, Sam had reached at her limits. Her muscles aching and her body completely drained, she longed for a shower to scrub the rotten, dusty corn smell away.

They paid everyone a twenty-percent bonus. Apparently, they’d exceeded the Aschen’s expectations and advanced their maintenance schedule with fast and thorough work. Sam declined their offer to participate in the maintenance of another harvester, even though they offered her two-hundred silver coins.

She set out to find a cheap guesthouse, take a shower, and have a long sleep in a real bed. Ireland was known to offer plenty of farm jobs, so finding work here should be a lot easier.

But she needed to think about how to proceed from here. There was no way back. Home was halfway across the world. She’d come a long way, yet she was no closer to finding the resistance.


	4. Strangers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the new version of "Stargate Aschen", completely revised style-wise. 
> 
> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> Also, this version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

As soon as Sam opened the door, the strong smell of smoke mixing with flat beer reached her nostrils and she winced. She should have expected a place like this when the shop owner in the little town had told her she’d have to walk two hours into the forest to reach the bar.

It was the only house for miles. Not exactly a place that welcomed ordinary customers. Her stomach clenched as she entered.

Men with grim faces scrutinized her and went about their own business again. Most of them at least. She scanned the room. Old oak tables and chairs and a rotten looking counter. Just the kind of establishment the Aschen were so keen on banning, a haven for smugglers, dealers and other criminals.

Two nights ago, she had overheard two men in a town bar talking about the resistance. Her first real clue they actually existed.

The men had been arms dealers who regularly provided the resistance with weapons—that much she’d gathered from the conversation. They’d mentioned one of the resistance leaders was in town, and that the best place to meet him was Thursday night in this forest bar. After weeks of searching, fate had been kind to her.

Sam kept the hood of her cape in place as she walked up to the counter. An obese bartender in his fifties was cleaning glasses—or attempting to. Her stomach turned when she saw the brown water he dipped the glasses into before he dried them. 

“Hi.” She sat down on one of the barstools and looked around. Fourteen people, all male, including the bartender. All far enough away that she’d be able to make it to the exit door in less than five steps.

Somehow, it had become part of her routine to carefully scan her surroundings and map out an escape route in case of an emergency. Especially if there was only males around her.

A filthy looking man with greasy blonde hair ogled her from a table close by. He gave her a sly grin and two gold teeth blinked in the dim light. Sam turned back to the bartender.

“I am looking for someone.”

“Uh huh.” The man put a toothpick between his teeth without interest, and put down his dirty towel. “I’m a bartender, not an info booth.”

“Alright.” Sam pulled a silver coin out of her pocket. “I’ll take a beer, please.”

He looked at her suspiciously, still chewing on the toothpick in the corner of his mouth. “I don’t think so, lad, you’re still in your teens judging from your voice.”

Sam sighed and contemplated her choices. Revealing herself as a woman in an establishment like this wasn’t wise. On the other hand, this was her first real clue to the resistance, and she didn’t want to give up that easily.

Her eyes narrowed, she pulled the hood back and lifted her chin. The bartender’s eyes grew wide, his gaze taking in her hair, scanning her face. He cleared his throat and leaned over the counter towards her.

“Lady, I don’t think it’s wise for you to be in a place like this alone. Unless you’re looking to earn quick silver, if you know what I mean. My customers are not the honorable kind, and I make it a policy not to interfere with their business. If you get into trouble—“

“I can take care of myself.” That sounded braver than she felt, even to her own ears. “Since we’re already chatting, maybe you can answer my question. I’m looking for a contact from the resistance here. Where can I find him?”

The man scrutinized her through narrowed eyes, then straightened out and went back to drying his glasses. “I can’t help you.”

“The sooner I get what I’m here for, the sooner I’ll leave.” His face darkened and Sam winced. Okay, so maybe trying to badger a man like this wasn’t a wise plan. She was running out of choices, though.

“I advise you to leave. Don’t get involved with things you know nothing about.”

Would it help if she bribed him? She didn’t have much silver left, but maybe it would be worth the investment. Her eyes locked with the bartender’s gaze. Nope, not a chance. The man was apparently bent on not talking, and she doubted a bribe would change his mind. Maybe one of the other customers would be able to help. She glanced around the bar again.

Several gazes locked on her with interest. No wonder. She had to make quite an impression: blonde short-cropped hair, tight pants, and the rather loose black shirt from her brother reaching to her thighs. And a woman in a place like this.

She had to be careful around these guys. Their leering left little to the imagination. She knew exactly what was going through their minds.

Then her gaze fell on a man sitting in a darkened corner alone. Something about him was different, though she couldn’t pinpoint what. His dark eyes scrutinized her with an intensity that made her swallow. He leaned forward. Grey flecked his dark hair at the temples. His face was neatly shaven and clean. Overall, he looked like an honorable person, but appearances could be deceiving.

Her cheeks grew warm when he lifted his glass towards her with the hint of a smirk around his mouth. Sam averted her gaze. Great. She really had to be careful. No need to encourage anybody with gestures that might be mistaken as flirtatious.

The bartender put a glass of beer in front of her. The cleansing properties of the alcohol would probably take care of the questionable hygiene. She needed a drink.

She picked up the glass to take a sip, and her stomach turned. Some kind of indefinable lumps floated around in her beer. Flies, mold, worse? She didn’t want to know.

She leaned over the counter. “Excuse me.” The bartender turned with raised eyebrows. “Could I have another beer that doesn’t have things floating around in it?”

The man’s jaw clenched and he pulled the toothpick from between his teeth. “If you don’t like the beverage, I suggest you leave.”

“I will leave.” She fixated him with her gaze. “As soon as I get what I came for. Since you’re unwilling to help me, I’ll extent my stay for as long as necessary.”

The man threw the towel down on the counter. “Listen, Miss.” His palm slammed down on the wooden surface as a voice interrupted them.

“What’s going on?”

She turned her head. The guy from the shadowy corner stood behind her. He was almost half a head taller than her, a lot more than she’d estimated. Normally she could see eye to eye with the people she met.

“This lady refuses to take no for an answer.”

“I requested a new beer since mine is spoiled. This man doesn’t seem to care for his customer’s complaints.” Sam eyed the stranger as he raised his eyebrows. His lips turned into another smirk.

“You heard the lady, O’Brian. Get her a new one.”

To Sam’s surprise, O’Brian turned and filled a new glass with fresh beer. He mumbled something into his beard. Who the hell was this stranger?

“You have to excuse his manners.” The stranger sat next to Sam with a smile, a flirtatious glint in his eyes. “He’s not used to ordinary customers. Most people are already so drunk when they enter, they don’t even notice if their beer’s spoiled.”

She nodded dismissively and turned her head away. Appearing too friendly, or worse, inexperienced, was dangerous, and she didn’t want to give this guy the impression she was an easy victim.

He didn’t have an Irish accent. He spoke a very standardized dialect, generally only heard from people who lived in areas consisting of a heavy Aschen population.

“Jack O’Neill.”

Sam turned her head and looked down at the hand the man held out to her. Her gaze shot up to his face.

After a moment he withdrew his hand. “And you are…?”

“Someone who’s not interested.”

He winced. “Ouch.” He waved at O’Brian, apparently a signal for the bartender to give him another beer. “Not even a name?”

She was probably being unnecessarily rude. This man was trying to be nice and he’d helped her with O’Brian. Her face softened. “I know what you think. Actually, I know what most of those guys over there think. I can’t be bought, persuaded, or otherwise enticed to have sex with you in any way, shape, or form. It’s not why I came, and it’s not going to be how I leave. Understood?”

His gaze bore into her, and Sam resisted the urge to shift nervously under the intensity of his stare. Finally, he lifted his beer towards her. “Crystal clear.” They fell silent.

Sam wanted to take a sip of her beer. More floaties. Great. With a sigh she dropped the glass without touching it. Today wasn’t her lucky day. 

“What are you here for?”

Oh boy. Sam rolled her eyes. Why couldn’t he leave her alone? “None of your concern.” Her tone would have prevented any further conversation from other people she knew.

“Okay, just thought I might be of help to you.”

“Hardly.”

“I gotta say, you sure stand your ground.” He smirked at the dark glance she shot at him, and shook his head. “You’re sure something. Let me to buy you a beer that isn’t spoiled. I promise to leave you alone.”

“If you think he’ll give you a better one.”

“He will.” He chuckled and she noticed the soft wrinkles around his eyes.

Warmth flooded her body and her throat turned dry. Confused, she turned away from him. “Fine, if you insist.”

Who was she to judge how the man spent his silver. From the corner of her eye, she studied him. He seemed to be well mannered, even honorable. Maybe she wasn’t doing him justice by dismissing him.

O’Brian vanished into the back. When he returned a minute later he was carrying a clean glass with fresh, sparkling beer. Sam’s mood lifted. She looked down into the clear yellow liquid. Floaty free. She took a sip. Bitter and cold, just as beer should be.

Next to her, O’Neill got up and lifted his glass towards her.

“Well, stranger. I hope you find what you’re looking for.” 

“Jack.” He stopped in his tracks and raised his eyebrows. Sam smiled faintly. “Thanks for the drink.”

“Pleasure.” He held her gaze, and then went back to his corner. Even from a distance, Sam felt his eyes linger on her.

Every now and then, she turned her head and their gazes met. Who was this guy? There was something in his eyes that made her cautious. Something relentless. Something that could be dangerous.

She turned back to O’Brian. Would she get away with asking about the resistance again? Considering his stern face and the way he seemed bent at ignoring her, not likely.

Great. All this way for nothing. Her first real clue to making contact with the resistance, and she’d failed miserably.

Sam picked up the glass and downed the contents at once. Now she’d have to start from scratch again, with sixteen silver coins in her pocket. Damn.

She slammed the empty glass down on the table. O’Brian turned his head to her, one of his eyebrows cocked up.

“Sorry.” Sam gave him a sardonic smile. “Thanks for your help.”

What now? Giving up was out of the question. She’d have never imagined making contact with the resistance would prove to be such an impossible task.

She slid down the chair to leave... and swayed. Her legs buckled under her, and the room spun slightly. Well, this was odd. She couldn’t be drunk. Not from one beer, anyway.

Her hands gripped the counter and she inhaled deeply. Bad idea to show any kind of weakness in the company she was in. If she passed out, it was a safe bet one of the scoundrels would take advantage of her, if not all of them. She shuddered and her stomach clenched.

Out. She needed to get out. Certainly, the cool night air would bring her back to her senses. She straightened and tried walking to the door. Only a few meters. It wasn’t far. Her breath hitched when her body hit the wall. Damn. Damn, damn, damn. This could not be happening. She tried to steady herself, but the room spun faster.

Strong arms gripped her around her waist, holding her up.

“Come on, just a few more steps.” A deep voice rasped next to her ear. It sounded familiar. Sam turned her head. Jack O’Neill.

“I’m not feeling so good. I think, I’m gonna…” _…pass out._ Oh yeah. Definitely passing out. Her mouth and tongue wouldn’t obey her anymore.

She heard the bell sound as the door opened, then cool night air hit her face. Sam gasped for air, her lungs fighting for oxygen. Her vision cleared, but only partly. This wasn’t alcohol or oxygen deprivation. If it were, she would have started feeling better already. No, this was something stronger. Oh God.

“I was drugged.”  She tried to push the man away from her, but the instant she’d lost his steadying grip, she dropped to the forest floor. “Something was… in the beer. What did you do?”

She rolled onto her back, her stomach turning. The crowns of the trees above spun in a bizarre circle that reminded her of one of the carrousels at the fairs she’d visited with her dad as a child.

“Calm down. You’ll be fine.”

A warm palm rested on her belly, and she tried to push it away. Then her surroundings tumbled as somebody picked her up on his arms.

“No.” She tried to hit his shoulders, tried to move her limbs. Darkness crept in until blackness swallowed everything.


	5. Mistaken Identity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the new version of "Stargate Aschen", completely revised style-wise. 
> 
> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> Also, this version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

“Ugh.” Sam groaned against a stinging headache, and pressed her palms against her eyes. Drowsy, she turned over on her belly and buried her face in the pillow. The stinging smell of damp mold hit her nostrils.

Nausea turned her stomach. She jerked her head back and opened her eyes to look around. Shadowy darkness, broken by thin streaks of light. A dusty floor. Humid air. Where was she?

Brushing her hand through her hair, she lifted herself on her elbows. A rotten, yellowed mattress served as a bed, and an even filthier blanket covered her body. As her vision cleared, more details jumped out at her. Pieces of hay, wooden booths at the sides. A barn.

Oh God. She’d been at a forest bar, looking for a resistance contact. And then some bastard had drugged her, and carried her off. Her stomach clenched.

Drugged. What if he had…

She threw the blanket off. Some of the tension lifted from her chest. She was still wearing the same clothes she’d worn yesterday. No bruises or marks. At least he hadn’t raped her. Yet.

If he intended on such a thing, maybe it would have been better if it happened while she was unconscious. Wincing, Sam rolled off the mattress. Pain pierced her head. Foul tasting dryness filled her mouth. Water. She needed water. She looked around. There was no water here.

Okay, change in plan then. She needed to find a way out of here. If this was a barn, then it was on a farm, and farms usually had some water supply. She crawled over to the doors and pulled herself up on shaky legs. The world still spun, but maybe if she gave it a couple of minutes, she’d recover without water.

She tried opening the barn door. Locked. Of course. O’Neill—if that was his actual name—certainly wouldn’t leave her in an open barn.

She glanced at one of the windows covered in so much dirt the outside was barely recognizable. Her hands touched the metal bars set into the wood in front of the window frame. She tried shaking them lose with both hands. Nothing. Damn.

She hit her fist against the wall and rested her forehead against the metal. Then her gaze lifted to the hayloft. Most barns had an access door up there to shovel the hay out. Those doors were usually unlocked. Perfect.

She climbed up the ladder and crawled onto the second floor. Pieces of straw and hay stuck on her clothes and poked uncomfortably into her skin. A number of hay cubes blocked the way to the back wall, but it shouldn’t be hard to climb over them. She had to get behind them to reach the access door.

“Don’t waste your time. It’s sealed shut.”

Sam’s heart sank. Wincing, she turned to peek down from the hayloft. Jack O’Neill stood in the middle of the barn, his dark eyes twinkling, his hands buried in the pockets of his dark green khakis.

He was a good-looking guy. How hadn’t she noticed that the night before? Why on Earth did it matter? He’d drugged and abducted her. The previous night was no more than a blur. Bastard. He had seemed like an honorable person last night, but apparently she’d been wrong in that assessment. Better to be prepared for anything.

She sneaked a glance at the barn door. Open. O’Neill was still blocking it, though, so she needed to distract him first. “What do you want from me?”

He smirked and folded his arms, his gaze locking with hers. “Why don’t you come down here and we’ll talk.”

Sam’s eyes narrowed. Her gaze dropped to his hips. A knife at the right side of his belt, a gun at his left. Oh boy, the man didn’t even bother to hide his weapons. Yeah, she was definitely dealing with a criminal. Best case scenario he was a smuggler, worst case scenario, a murderer or slave trader.

“I don’t think so.” The barn spun again, and she sat back against the hay as nausea turned her stomach anew. “What did you put in my drink last night?”

“A highly concentrated dose of benzo-benzodia-something. I can never remember what it’s called.”

“Date-rape substance?” Sam’s eyes snapped open. Benzodiazepines. She’d read about the substance in an article. She’d also been warned that it was the drug of choice for slave traders due to its swift sedative effect. Alright, at least she knew what kind of criminal he was.

“It comes with psycho-active side effects. Very useful in interrogations.”

Interrogations. Right. “Well, if your plan was to rape me, you missed your chance.” She leaned forward and glared down at him. “And if you think I’ll earn you a lot of money on the slave market, you’ll be disappointed. I’ll resist. I’d rather die than surrender myself willingly to any—“

He sighed. “I am neither a rapist, nor a slave trader.”

Sam snorted. “You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t take your word for that. You drugged and kidnapped me, neither of which can be considered a statement of friendliness.”

“If I wanted to rape you, I’d have done so already, don’t ya think?”

Sam studied him. How could he act so nonchalantly? And was that smugness in his voice?

“Besides, I’ve never needed date-rape drugs to get a woman I wanted.” An amused twinkle touched his eyes.

What in the…? She raised her eyebrows. Did he really have the audacity to joke in a moment like this?

“Overconfident much?” She brushed her hand through her hair to pull some of the hay out. “Certainly you didn’t go through all this trouble just to flirt with me. What do you want?” Another wave of nausea hit her, and she moaned.

“Come down here.” His voice hardened.

Okay, so now that his charms didn’t offered the desired effect, he was showing his true face. She’d expected something like that. “No.”

“Fine. What’s your name?”

“You drugged me to get my name?”

“For starters.”

She started coughing, her throat scratchy. Water. Her body demanded fluids. “You can’t honestly expect me to believe that. I know I’m probably ‘just a woman’ in your eyes, but you gotta give me a bit more credit than that.”

“I said _for starters_.”

Sam risked another look down at him. He’d sat down on one of the hay bales. This was gonna take a while. Damn. “I need water. I really don’t feel good.” Why on Earth did she say that? Did she honestly believe that he cared for her well-being?

“Here.” O’Neill held out a small bottle of clear water. “You gotta come down, though.”

Now that was a surprise. She eyed the water, then his face, and considered her options. It wouldn’t do her any good to remain up in the hayloft until she passed out from either nausea or thirst. Her best option was to regain a clear mind.

“Fine, I’ll come down, if you promise to keep the knife and gun right where they are.”

He raised his eyebrows in something akin to appreciation. “Noticed those, did ya?” He held her gaze.

“You’re not concealing them very well.” Sam gave a sarcastic smile.

“Point taken. Now get down here.” When she still didn’t move, he sighed. “For crying out loud. I won’t harm you if you don’t try anything stupid. You have my word.”

Yeah, like she could trust him. Still, she really didn’t have a choice. Hesitantly, she climbed down the ladder and then turned to face him. He held the bottle of water out towards her. 

Sam narrowed her eyes at him. “You didn’t drug it again, did you?”

“No.” His eyes twinkled. “But if I had, I also wouldn’t tell you, so that question is kinda pointless.”

“Right.” Could she trust him? If the water was drugged, she’d be out again for who knew how long. If it wasn’t… His expression remained blank. She had to take her chances.

She took the bottle and sat down on one of the milking stools, opposite where he was sitting, so she could keep an eye on him. Just in case. She opened the cap and lifted the bottle to her lips. Cold clear water ran down her throat. She’d never thought she’d appreciate something so basic. When the entire bottle was nearly empty, her headache faded away and strength returned to her muscles.

“So.” Jack pulled another stool close to the opposite wall and sat down. “What’s your name?”

She put the cap back on the bottle. Why did he want her name so badly? “Nina.”

He scrutinized her and his eyes darkened. “Nice try. I’ll give you another chance.”

Sam froze but lifted her chin. “It’s my name.” Dangerous game she was playing here. Maybe it’d be wiser not to provoke him.

“No, it isn’t.” O’Neill leaned forward to rest his elbows on his upper thighs. “Little hint. Next time you lie, try not looking so smug while doing it.”

Amusement dripped from his voice. Was he enjoying their banter?

Sam sighed. What harm would there be in telling him the name she’d gone by for the past couple of months? It wasn’t like he’d be able to do much with it. “Sam. My name’s Sam.”

“Sam.” Disbelief in his voice. So apparently he didn’t believe her if she lied, and he didn’t believe her if she was honest.

“Sam.” She repeated it and didn’t move a muscle as his gaze held hers.

“That’s a man’s name.”

“It’s _my_ name.” Okay, this line of questioning was beginning to annoy her. Her eyes sneaked another glance over at the open barn door.

“Don’t even think about it, Sam.” Was she really that transparent? Damn, she’d have to work on that. She lifted her chin, but he seemed entirely unimpressed. “What’s your last name?”

“Carter.” She blurted it out and felt the blood drain from her face. Giving him her real last name had probably been stupid. Then again, Carter wasn’t a rare last name these days.

“Sam Carter.” He raked his hand through his hair. “Alright, it’s a start. Where do you come from, Sam?”

“Pacific Coast of North America.” She uncapped the bottle and drank the last sip of water.

“Bigger city?”

“Little town,” she countered.

“Your dialect sounds more like an Aschen-dominated area or a bigger city.”

“My father was a salesman for farm machinery, so we traveled around a lot.” She had to remember that cover story in case it came up again.

“You still have family there?”

She rolled her eyes. “Is this an interrogation?”

“So far we’re just having a conversation.” O’Neill’s eyes blazed. “But if you wish, I can make it an interrogation. Things would become a lot less pleasant, and there’d be violence and hard feelings. So let me ask again. Do you have family?”

She considered defying him for a moment. No doubt he was being serious about interrogating her, though. As controlled as he appeared, something in his eyes told her he’d have no problem hurting, or even killing her.

“No family.” Hopefully he wouldn’t see through that lie. The last thing she needed was some kind of criminal blackmailing her father for money in exchange for her. Something like that would completely subvert her efforts to prove she could take care of herself.

“What were you doing at the bar last night?”

“Getting a drink.” She flashed him a sardonic smile. He smirked. In a very dark, dangerous way that shot like a warm jolt through her.

“Funny. Answer the question.”

“As I told you last night, that’s none of your business.” She folded her arms. Slowly, he got up from the chair. Sam held his gaze, her jaw clenched. “You don’t scare me. If you want to kill me, fine, go ahead.” What the hell was she doing?

O’Neill looked dumbfounded. Then his eyes flared. “There are worse things to do to a woman than killing her.”

A chill ran down her back. He’d likely have no problem raping her, killing her and then burying her in some field where nobody would ever find her again. Oh God. Live today, fight tomorrow. Maybe, for the moment it’d be better to cooperate.

“I wanted to meet somebody from the resistance.”

“Who did you wanna meet?” His hands fisted at his sides.

Sam’s body tightened. She was prepared to run for the door should he make one wrong move. “I don’t know.”

“You wanted to meet someone and you don’t even know who?” He stood unmoving but his height and relentless demeanor intimidated her.

“I just heard from somebody that I could meet someone from the resistance Thursday night at that bar.”

“Who told you?”

“I don’t know who they were.”

“They?” Jack O’Neill seemed visibly unsettled by her revelation.

Sam jumped up when he crossed the distance between them. She pressed herself against the wall behind her as he stepped into her personal space.

“Okay, I lied,” she blurted out. “Nobody told me. I overheard two arms dealers talking about the resistance at the ‘Blue Leprechaun’. They said a resistance contact would be in the ‘Forest Elf’ bar on Thursday, so I figured I’d try finding that person.”

“For crying out loud.” O’Neill rested his palm against the wall next to her head, his gaze fixating on her face. “Why did you lie?”

“I—I don’t know. I thought it would sound less amateurish if I said somebody told me.” Maybe the bar owner had been right, she was in way over her head. She should never have made that trip to the Forest Elf bar.

His gaze bored into hers, and Sam averted her eyes lest he see the emotions there.

O’Neill eased up slightly. “The resistance is just a rumor.”

She scoffed. “Why don’t you let me go, and we can both go our separate ways? I can chase after the rumor and you can do… whatever it is you do.”

His face softened. “Why the resistance? You an arms dealer?”

“No.” Sam shook her head with a sigh. “Nothing like that.”

“Any other criminal activities you’re involved in? Dealing in stolen goods? Smuggling?”

Her jaw dropped. Damn, she had to give a more intimidating impression than she’d thought if he considered her capable of those crimes. “You really think I am a criminal?”

He chuckled. “No, actually I don’t. Though for some reason you play tough and try to evoke the impression you are one.” Sam froze when his breath washed warm down her neck. “Don’t do that, unless you know who you’re dealing with.” His scent permeated her senses, making her dizzy. He smelled different, intriguing. Something happened inside of her that she couldn’t pinpoint and her breathing quickened.

“What could you possibly want from the resistance that you’d risk getting abducted by slave traders?” His breath mingled with hers. “You do realize that’s what most of these guys last night were, don’t ya?”

Okay, she had not known that. “You aren’t?”

“No.” His gaze dropped to her lips.

Her heart pounded, and she pressed herself harder against the wall. “Don’t even think about it.”

“’Bout what?”

“I’ve seen that expression before.”

He studied her thoughtfully. “Are you an Aschen spy?” His hand slammed against the wall next to her shoulder.

She jumped at the unexpected outburst. “No. I’m not a spy.”

After a long moment of staring at her, his gaze softened. “Then what do you want from the resistance?”

Sam trembled and pressed herself firmly against the wall again, as though somehow by force of will she could disappear into it. If only. “I want to join.”

He studied her face, and Sam turned her head away, her breath coming hard and fast.

“Do you?” He removed his hand and took a step back.

Sam exhaled and looked at him cautiously. A thought occurred to her. He was so close to her, it would take only one distinct move to steal either his gun or his knife. She knew how to handle knives. Mark and David had taught her when she was a teen.

Before she could talk herself out of it, she pushed against O’Neill’s chest, used her left hand to grab the knife at his side, and spun. He tumbled backwards. Sam raced to the open barn door, ignoring his muttered curse behind her.

Once outside, she slammed the heavy barn door shut behind her and looked at the ground for the lock. Damn, he must have taken it inside. She turned around and raced across what appeared to be a small farm. Chickens clucked angrily and scattered in all directions as she crossed their path.

Her heart sank. Nothing but farmland surrounded her. She had absolutely no idea where she was.

“Sam, wait!”

She spun around and saw that O’Neill had left the barn. Crap. He was following her. She ran across a dirty path leading to the biggest building. One of the fields would provide her with good cover for now. There had to be another farmhouse or town somewhere close by, where she’d find help.

As she reached the backyard of the farmhouse, she came to a dead stop. A huge fence, apparently designed to keep farm animals from running off into the fields, blocked her way. What now?

She looked around. A dead end. Who the hell build a fence around their backyard without at least a gate leading outside? She ducked behind a small staircase that led into the back of the house and waited.

Footsteps approached around the corner. She forced her breath to calm, her fingers closed around the hilt of the knife. If O’Neill found her, she’d have to be quick. Certainly he wouldn’t hesitate to make short shrift of her. She should have taken his gun. Opting for the knife had left her at a disadvantage. He would not even have to get close to her in order to neutralize her. 

She waited. Waited some more.

After a few minutes, she peeked out from behind the staircase. No sign of the man. Where had he gone? Certainly, he’d seen her run behind the house. Given the fence, there was no way she could have escaped. So why hadn’t he searched more thoroughly?

Sam crawled out of her hiding spot and sneaked along the grass to the corner of the house. Still no sign of him. The chickens clucked peacefully again.

She scanned the surroundings before she continued on as quietly as possible. Reaching the corner, she looked over the large yard. Deserted. But on the other side was… Her heart raced.

A hovercraft. Just the vehicle she needed to get away from here. She’d be able to drive into the nearest town, as soon as she found out where exactly she was. At least it would give her an advantage.

Crossing the yard would be tricky. It offered no hiding places. For a few seconds she’d be completely exposed. A sitting duck. If she was fast enough, she should be able to make it, though.

Once she reached the vehicle, the rest should be a piece of cake. Bypassing the security mechanisms that prevented somebody from starting the ignition without a key wasn’t a problem. It shouldn’t take more than ten seconds.

After a last look around, she raced across the yard.

Once she reached the hovercraft, she exhaled and spun to scan the yard. No sign of O’Neill or anybody else. Fantastic.

She turned and took a step towards the vehicle—

“Going somewhere?”

Jack O’Neill stepped out from behind the hovercraft. Sam winced and closed her eyes. Damn, couldn’t anything go right today? She pulled out the knife.

“Get out of my way. I swear I’m gonna kill you.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Not like that, you aren’t.” Was the freaking bastard amused? Sam released a little growl. O’Neill chuckled. “Gotta say, I’m a bit disappointed. The hovercraft was such an obvious choice. I kinda expected something a bit more creative after the little knife number you pulled back there.”

“Let me go. I promise I won’t tell on you. No Aschen justice agents. I’ll just go about my business and you’ll never see me again.” She tried to keep her voice from shaking.

“Can’t do that.” He held out his hand. “Give me the knife, then we’ll talk.”

Sam glanced around to see if there was any way to reach the hovercraft, to get on it, start the engine and drive away without him reaching her first. Unlikely. She probably wouldn’t even reach the ignition before he got to her. So much for that plan.

Alright, then she’d at least make it as hard as possible for him to get a hold of her.

O’Neill took a step towards her, his hands raised in surrender. She stepped backwards. She sure as hell wouldn’t be fooled. “Sam. Calm down and give me the knife before you hurt yourself.”

Herself? She clenched her teeth and glared at him. Arrogant bastard. Did he really think that highly of himself, that he didn’t consider the possibility she’d hurt him before she hurt herself?

“What, so that you can kill me? I don’t think so.” Her head started pounding again. She hadn’t eaten anything since who knew how long, and her throat was still dry. Exhaustion began to catch up with her. She wouldn’t be able to keep this cat-and-mouse game up for much longer. ~~~~

“I give you my word, I won’t harm you.” His gaze locked with hers, and his hand moved to the weapon at his side. “If it was my intention to kill you, I could just take this gun and shoot you.“

Crap. Her hands on the knife trembled. “Drop it! Hands up!”

He lifted his hands immediately, a concerned expression on his face. Why the hell did he do that? She was standing a few meters away from him. If he wanted to draw the gun, there’d be nothing she could do about it with her knife. Confused, she scanned his face.

“Calm down. All of this was a test. I had to see if you could be trusted. It’s over.”

A test? What kind of game was he playing? She took a few steps back, her gaze never leaving his. For all she knew he was just sweet-talking her. If he were a slave-trader, she’d be worth more alive than dead. Killing her certainly wasn’t in his best interest. “Just let me go.”

“You said you wanted to join the resistance.”

The back of her foot hit a small brick lying on the ground and she tumbled. Gasping, she tried to keep her balance, but fell over backwards. The knife slipped from her grasp. She tried to get a hold of it again, but sharp pain shot from her palm through her arm. She flinched.

Blood rushed in her ear. Stupid, stupid move. This was it, she knew it. He’d take advantage of her and probably kill her. And all because she’d been stupid enough not to look where she was going.

She twitched when his palm came to rest on her stomach. “Don’t kill me.”

“Oh for crying out loud. I’m not gonna kill you.” Concern flashed across his face as his gaze fell on her hand. “You’re hurt.”

“What do you care?”

He didn’t answer. Instead he grabbed her arm. Blood dripped from a long, deep gash in her palm. Damn, that looked really bad.

“C’mere.” He steadied her as she sat up. Then he pulled a cloth out of his back pocket to press it against the wound. “You should never try to grab a knife after you’ve lost control of it.” She winced as he patted her palm to clear the blood from the wound. Burning pain shot through her wrist. “You’ll need stitches, and it needs to be disinfected as soon as possible. Can you walk?”

Sam nodded and got up. Okay, now he certainly didn’t sound like a murderer or slave trader anymore. She followed him down the path to the main house.

Once they reached it, he opened the door. A large dark hallway led inside, and Sam hesitated. O’Neill opened the first door on the right. “Come in already. If I wanted to shoot you I’d have done it out there.”

“Maybe you just don’t want witnesses.” She entered a small farmhouse kitchen with an old stove, several shelves, and an old handcrafted table. Well, this was unexpected.

“You think chickens make for good witnesses?” He smirked as he opened one of the cupboards and put a bottle with a clear liquid on the table. “There’s no real medicine here, so this will have to suffice for now. It’s better than an infection.”

She looked at him blankly and sat down on one of the chairs.  He went through the cabinets until he found a small glass. Then he poured some of the clear liquid into it and put it in front of her. “Drink up.”

“Trying to drug me again?”

“No. This is gonna hurt, so drink.”

Sam picked up the glass and took a sip. The liquid burned as it ran down her throat and she coughed, and then pushed the glass away from her. “This is disgust—“

Anything she had intended to say cut off when he poured a good amount of the clear liquid from the bottle over the wound on her hand. White flashed in front of her eyes. Her entire arm felt as though he were sticking a knife through it.

She screamed through gritted teeth, and wanted to pull her hand out of his firm hold. When he finally released her, her cheeks were wet from tears. Panting, she glared up at him. “A little warning next time would be nice.”

“Drink up.” He pushed the half-empty glass towards her with a glint in his eyes. “I’m gonna see if I can find some bandages.”

She looked down at the glass and pushed it away. Her hand trembled and whenever she moved it, stinging pain shot through it. Alcohol was a good disinfectant, he was right, but still. This burned like hell.

“If I’d given you a warning it would’ve been worse, believe me.” He went through a few drawers until he’d found what he was looking for. Bandages. Sam raised her eyebrows. Was he actually trying to help her?

Her gaze shot up to his as he sat down opposite her.

“What?” He cut some of the bandages off.

“Are you doing this so that I don’t lose my worth on the market?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. With your attitude, your value wouldn’t make up for the hassle.” Her mouth fell open and he chuckled. “Told you before, I’m not a slave trader.”

She hissed when he pressed a white piece of cloth against her palm and started rolling the bandage around her hand.

“I’m who you were looking for. I just had to make sure you were not an Aschen spy. And that you were suitable for our organization.”

He finished with her hand, and then got up to put the bandages back into the drawer. Sam ran her fingers over her bandaged palm and winced when her touch prompted a hollow pounding in her arm.

“So you’re resistance? Really?—Ouch!”

A stinging pain flared in her upper arm. Her head whipped around, and she stared at the syringe in O’Neill’s hand. He’d injected her with something. She wanted to pull away but he was holding her arm in a steel-like grip.

“Don’t. That’d be a bad idea.”

“What is that? What did you do?” A deep calm took possession of her almost instantly. The room started to spin.

“Sorry, but it’s protocol. I can’t take you to camp with me, unless you’re out cold. I’d have given you a warning, but I had a feeling you’d do something stupid, like trying to fight or run.”

“You drugged me again.” How idiotic had she been to trust this man. “You’re not resistance, are you? This was just a scam to get me to let my guard down. You son of a…”

She got up and stumbled to the door, but O’Neill caught up with her. His arms wrapped around her and she sank against his chest as her legs buckled. “I won’t hurt you, Sam. Trust me.”

Trust him. Dizziness. Nausea. Damn, and she’d just started to feel better. Resignation sank in, and keeping her eyelids open became too much of an effort.

 

***

 

Jack held the young woman’s body securely in his arms until she slumped against him. Then he lowered her to the floor. His gaze lingered on her face, and he brushed some of the wild strands of hair away from her eyes. She looked somewhat filthy with hay stuck to her clothes and in her short hair, but even with all the dirt, she was breathtaking. What a woman. Such a fighter.

Who was she? Where had she come from? A small town near the Pacific ocean, she’d said. Not that he believed her. For some reason she was lying. She was also no Aschen spy, so he’d let that go. Spies were trained professionals. She was clearly untrained, no matter how tough she wanted to appear.

Her resourcefulness, creativity, and courage were impressive. He’d seen adult men cave under less pressure. Despite the drugs, she’d been determined not to give in. Just the kind of personality they needed. She would make a promising addition to the resistance. A few months of boot camp training would make her an excellent fighter.

He studied her facial features. Dust and dirt covered her cheeks, and she wore men’s clothes. How rare to meet a woman who had brains and was self-sufficient. And he couldn’t get that honest smile she’d given him last night to thank him for the beer out of his mind.

This was dangerous territory. She was gonna be a recruit, a subordinate. _His_ subordinate. He made it a policy not to get into personal affairs of any kind with recruits.

Aside from that, he was married to Jacob Carter’s daughter. Even though he’d never met the girl, he was determined to keep the marriage vow—at least until he’d meet her so they could talk about the details regarding their marriage.

He gathered the young woman up in his arms, and carried her outside to the hovercraft. Mrs. Donnell would probably have a heart attack if she saw he had interrogated a woman the same way he’d interrogate a male prospective recruit. No reason to upset the old lady when she’d so generously offered her farmhouse for resistance operations.

He placed Sam on the backseat and pulled a blanket over her to keep her warm as much as to hide her. Then he hurried back into the house to clean up and lock the door.

It was time to go home.


	6. Trust Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the new version of "Stargate Aschen", completely revised style-wise. 
> 
> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> Also, this version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

Sam stirred with a moan. Warmth surrounded her. Comfortable softness. Voices mumbled around her, too unclear and distant to make out the words. Images of childhood days flooded her mind. Days when she’d lain in her soft bed, and her father or Minny had read her bedtime stories.

Somebody walked by her bed, touched her arm and forehead. That was unusual. What were people doing walking around in her bedroom? Her eyes fluttered open. A ceiling of dark green canvas. Definitely not her bedroom.

Opening her eyes wider, Sam turned her head. She lay on a slim field bed in what looked like a large tent. The voices she’d heard had to come from somewhere outside.

Where was she? And how had she gotten here?

She’d been drugged, kidnapped. She jerked to a sitting position—and regretted it when dizziness hit her hard.

With another moan, she moved her legs out from under the blanket to get up. When she leaned on her hand, sharp pain shot from her palm, through her entire arm, up to her shoulder. Hissing softly, she tried to get up using only her left hand. The room spun and she had to grab on to a wooden shelf next to the bed to keep her balance.

“Whoa, whoa. Easy there, sweetie. You really shouldn’t be getting up yet.”

Sam turned her head. A red haired woman hurried towards her, dropped a file onto the bed and helped her sit back down. Sam didn’t fight her. Getting up wasn’t such a good idea anyway.

“I want you to stay in bed for at least another day until the chemicals have washed out of your system.” The woman took her left hand and began unwrapping the bandage from her palm. “This was a serious cut. I had to give you a few stitches, but it should be fine again in one or two weeks.”

Sam observed her before she finally gathered enough focus to ask the question burning in her mind. “Who are you?” She looked around. “And where am I?”

“I’m Janet Fraiser.” The doctor smiled without losing her concentration in wrapping a new bandage around Sam’s hand. “Chief medical officer of resistance Cell 4.”

“The best doctor in the entire resistance,” a male voice added from the entrance of the tent.

Sam looked up. A tall, bespectacled man, probably only a few years older than her, had stepped inside and strolled closer.

Janet rolled her eyes. “Daniel, as always you’re exaggerating.”

“She’s just modest.” The man smiled at Sam and extended a hand to greet her. “Hi. I’m Daniel. Daniel Jackson.”

“The nurse?”

He chuckled. “No, I’m an archeologist.”

“Oh.” Sam nodded. “Part of the resistance, I assume?”

“Yeah. Science department.” He grinned. “I’m responsible for decrypting texts and artifacts brought back from missions.”

“You bring back artifacts from missions?” Sam hissed when Janet hit an especially sore spot on her palm.

“Sorry.” The doctor taped her bandage and then released her hand.

Daniel Jackson cleared his throat. “Has anybody told you anything yet?”

Sam shook her head. “I just woke up here.”

“Ah.” Daniel pushed his glasses further onto his nose. “Just the rough treatment, huh? Sorry for that. We’re actually pleasant people, despite what you might think after your experience with our camp leader. He’s convinced it’s necessary to sort the wheat from the chaff. If you ask me, it’s unnecessarily cruel.”

“So’s the field.”

Sam recognized O’Neill’s voice instantly. She looked up. “We had this discussion, Daniel. I need to be sure the new recruits are gonna be able to handle the stress in the field. Otherwise we’ll soon have tons of civilians out there who know about us and our procedures, because they dropped out of training.”

“Jack.” Daniel folded his arms, glaring at him from over the rim of his glasses.

“Daniel.” O’Neill’s face remained blank.

“She’s a woman. Was that really necessary?” The archeologist pointed at her hand.

“Actually.” Sam shook her head. “It was my fault.”

“Yes, but why did it even have to come to this? Jack, can’t you at least use fake weapons?” Daniel sighed.

“The gun was fake,” O’Neill said. “Everybody else always goes for the gun. Kinda surprised me there a little bit.”

His smile made her heart jump. He looked different now, in khakis and a black shirt. Like a soldier. And a handsome one at that.

“Your gun was secured. Besides, I’ve never handled one before.” Sam held his gaze and gently rubbed her fingers over her bandaged palm.

O’Neill smirked. “See? You don’t learn if somebody still uses their wits in a stressful situation by talking to them. You gotta see them in action.”

“Jack.”

“Daniel, I won’t discuss this anymore. I’m responsible for the safety of this camp, and for the trustworthiness of the recruits. Besides, McKay was looking for you for help with the inscriptions on the new artifact.”

Daniel left the tent, visibly discontented with the outcome of their conversation. O’Neill sat down on the bed next to Sam’s. Now that they were alone, his expression changed.

“I knew there was a beautiful woman under all that dirt and dust.”

Sam felt her cheeks grow warm and she lowered her eyes, her fingers self-consciously touching her lips.

“Listen, Daniel’s right where one thing is concerned. That shouldn’t have happened.” He touched her hand gently. “And I’m sorry about being so rough with you. I had to make sure you were not an Aschen spy, and that you have what it takes.”

Sam gave a weak smile. “I’m just glad you didn’t kill me. Where are we?” She readjusted her position to lie back on the soft pillow. Immediately, her headache and dizziness faded. Resting longer definitely didn’t seem like a bad idea.

“Resistance camp. I can’t tell you the location. Just a precaution to make it harder for spies to betray us.” He gestured to her arm where he had sedated her and she nodded.

“Right. Just so I know, how often can I expect to be drugged during my training?”

His lips twitched into a smirk. “No more drugs or sedatives. Promise.” He held her gaze in a way that made her tense with a previously unknown nervousness. What was wrong with her? Why did she become so self-conscious all of a sudden? Her skin tingled when his gaze gentled. “Get some rest. You were really weak when we got here, and I want you at full strength when your training starts.” He got up to leave.

“Jack.” He stopped. “Thank you for, you know, not killing me and giving me this chance.”

“I said I wouldn’t harm you.”

“Yes, but during the past month, I’ve come to realize people tend to lie when it comes to that. Especially to women.”

He studied her with a serious expression. “You have the perfect mindset for a resistance fighter. But from now on, you’ll have to learn one thing. Trust me, and the members of this camp.”

“Only if you refrain from drugging me in the future.” She gave him an open smile, and something flashed across his face. Something that made her muscles coil.

“It’s a deal.” He brushed her forearm with his fingers. “Get some rest. Your training’s scheduled to start in about ten days, so you need to have your strength back by then. If you need something, let me know. Or let the doc know.” He leaned in conspiratorially. “And follow her orders. I know she doesn’t look like it, but she can turn into a real dragon if you make her angry. First-hand experience here.”

Sam smiled. He straightened and walked towards the exit. Before he left, he turned around once more. “Oh, and Sam. Don’t leave camp until further notice, understood?”

She nodded, and watched as he left.

What an attractive man. How was that possible? Hours—or perhaps days ago—she been sure he’d kill her. He had a dangerous and relentless side to him. Trusting him might be a bad idea.

 

***

 

_A few days later_

 

“Guess who’s baaack?”

Sam shielded her eyes from the bright sunlight leaking into the tent as the entrance tarp flew open. With a groan, she pulled the pillow over her head and turned on her other side. _Just a few more minutes of sleep._

“Who’s that?” the strange female voice asked. Okay, no sleep after all. She turned and eyed the woman who stood next to her sleeping bag. Her long black hair fell in pigtails at either side of her head.

“Hi.” Sam dropped her head back on the pillow. Janet was already doing her hair in front of the mirror that stood on a wooden box in one of the corners. “You must be Vala.”

As Janet had explained a few days ago, there were only three women at camp, so they’d have to share this tent. Since it was a standard tent designed for four people, each of them still had plenty of room. Much more than Sam needed, given that she didn’t own anything except the clothes she’d worn when she’d arrived.

“Vala, meet Sam.” Janet smiled into the mirror.

“Oh, great! A new one!” Vala clapped her hands, and dropped onto her sleeping bag. Then she loosened the hairbands holding her pigtails in place.

Janet grinned at Sam. “She can get on your nerves at times, but she’s okay. Just send her away when she gets to be too much for you.”

“Hey.” Vala looked at her, sulking. “I’m right here.”

Janet put down her hairbrush and turned her head. “I told you before, sometimes your cheerfulness is annoying. Don’t act like you care.”

Vala held her gaze for a moment, then shrugged and beamed at Sam. “She’s right, I don’t care.”

“Oh boy.” Sam sat up. Vala crawled over to sit next to her and eyed her curiously.

“So… what are you? Doctor? Nurse?”

“Soldier, I think.” Sam rolled out from under the covers. It was way too early for her to engage in cheerful chitchat, let alone answer questions from a complete stranger. She needed a shower first. And coffee.

“Hey, me too. This is great, maybe we’ll work together.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Sam got up and left the tent to sit down on one of the tree stumps close by. It was still early, judging from how low the sun hung in the sky. The air was mild and fresh, though.

Inside the tent Sam heard Janet chuckle. “She’s not an early bird, Vala. Not everybody is as energetic as you are.”

“Pfff… humans.”

Sam raised her brows. Humans? Was Vala an Aschen woman?

“Look what I found on the last mission.”

“Does Daniel know you took that?” Amusement layered through Janet’s voice.

“In a way… he ordered us to pack everything up and take it home.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure he didn’t mean for you to keep it.”

“Well, what he doesn’t know…” Oh boy. Sam couldn’t help a chuckle. Vala was sneaky—and a thief apparently.

“I’ll never understand why you’re so fixated on acquiring artifacts,” Janet said. “It’s not like we can use them against the Aschen in any way.”

“But I can sell them. Do you know what pure gold is worth on the black market?”

“Vala!”

Sam’s head jerked up. Daniel Jackson stormed towards their tent. He faltered when he saw her and waved at the tent.

“Is she in there?”

Sam nodded and bit back a smile when he tossed the flap of the tent aside.

“Vala, where is it?”

“Daniel,” Vala purred suggestively in an obvious attempt to distract him. “I knew some day you would come to my bed.”

Oh boy. Sam shook her head. Who the hell were these people? This was beginning to feel like some kind of theatrical comedy. She threaded her fingers through her tangled hair.

“Vala. Where is the mask of Nefertiri?”

“What mask?” Oh, yeah. That sounded mock-innocent even if Sam couldn’t see Vala’s face. “Daniel, come on now. Forget about the mask.”

Rummaging sounded from inside the tent, then Daniel stormed out, carrying a small golden mask in his hand.

“Oh come on, Daniel.” Vala followed him. “I was gonna give it back. Eventually. Daniel!”

The archeologist stomped off without looking back. Sam closed her eyes and enjoyed the warm morning sun on her skin, the way the damp grass felt under her naked feet. A warm breeze grazed her bare arms and ruffled her hair. This was freedom. 

Her training would start in three days. So far, everybody seemed to respect her. She’d spent most of the time with Janet while going through her medical check-ups. Her hand had almost healed, and two days ago, a man named John Sheppard had given her a basic introductory briefing about her upcoming weeks of training at camp. All rather basic information that gave no inside details about proceedings. 

Curiosity peaked, she waited patiently through the briefings, the medical exams, and the introductory classes.

“Carter.”

She looked up at the sound of O’Neill’s voice. She’d hardly seen him during the past few days. Flushing, she glanced down at herself. Jack didn’t seem to care she was still in the shorts and top she wore for sleeping. His gaze remained on her face. 

As camp commander and highest-ranking officer, people respected him. He always seemed to be aware of his status and kept his distance from many of the other members. Sam admired him for what he had to put up with on a daily basis. Just yesterday, she’d witnessed him getting into a lively discussion with one of the scientists—an unfriendly, and very arrogant man—about some type of equipment that he needed.

“Jack.” Sam winced when he raised his eyebrows. Damn. Messed up already. “Sorry, sir.”

His gaze softened. “With me please.” He turned and trudged towards the large tent that marked the center of the resistance camp.

She got up from the tree stump and hurried after him on bare feet. Pulling aside the mosquito net covering the entrance, she followed him into the command tent. Jack walked around his desk and picked up a few papers.

“I got the results of your physicals this morning.” He looked up at her, his expression blank. Sam hugged herself and waited for him to continue. “Everything looks fine, except for one little detail.”

“Oh?” Sam held her breath. Was there something wrong with her health?

“You’re gifted.” He sat down, his gaze fixating on her.

She folded her arms, jaw clenching. How could Janet run a fertility test without informing her? It was bad enough the Aschen invaded people’s privacy that way.

“I take it you’re aware of your condition.” His expression darkened, no doubt for her hostile behavior. “When exactly were you planning on telling me?”

“Frankly? Not at all. It doesn’t matter. I’m just as capable a fighter. I can do things just as well as non-gifted females—or males.”

She didn’t avert her eyes. If he meant to intimidate her with his hardened gaze, he was mistaken thinking she’d cave that easily.

“This has nothing to do with you being a woman.” He put his pen down. “I like women.”

Something about the way he said it made her feel tingly. A dangerous feeling. Dangerous and disturbing.

Jack leaned back in his chair. “They’re excellent fighters from what I’ve experienced. Plus, on covert missions they’re a lot less suspicious.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“The problem is, you failed to inform me, or Janet. We had to find out through testing. Gifted members are a lot easier to identify by the DNA comparison with records in the Aschen ‘gifted’-database, which puts their friends, families and other social connections in danger.” He rubbed his palm over his face. “Trust is imperative here, Sam. I need to be able to trust you and for that I need you to tell me everything.”

“The Aschen don’t know I’m gifted.” She dropped her arms. He had a point. She hadn’t considered the possibility of identification.

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

“I wasn’t sure…” She pressed her lips together, groping for words.

Jack leaned forward onto the desk and gentled his voice. “Weren’t sure of what?”

“I wasn’t sure whether you’d dismiss me once you learned.” She lifted her chin and swallowed, suddenly feeling uncomfortable under his scrutiny.

“I’m gifted, too.” He looked down and made a few notes on a piece of paper in front of him. Sam’s eyes widened in surprise. “I understand why you tried to keep it secret. You’re not the only one carrying that burden. At least here at camp, it’s nothing to be afraid or ashamed of. Nobody will hold it against you or treat you differently. Janet and I just have to know so we can take precautions.”

“What do you mean?” She sat down on one of the wooden boxes that lined the tent, apparently filled with all kinds of files and papers.

“Janet developed a serum. Provided it’s administered once a month, it makes any fertility test result come back negative. Something about protein markers. You’d have to ask her for the details, I’m not much of a scientist. One side effect is you won’t be able to become pregnant for as long as you receive the treatment. But I assume that wasn’t on your to-do list anyway.”

Sam released a little chuckle and shook her head. “Definitely not.”

“The treatment’s still experimental, but it worked for me, and seven other people at camp. For now, it’ll have to do.”

Sam jumped up. “That’s incredible. You could make the treatment accessible to the general public. If everybody got a negative test result, the strict Aschen rules wouldn’t apply anymore. Many gifted people could live free of oppression.”

“No.” Jack played with the pen, his dark eyes locking with hers. “That is not, and will never be, an option. We need the human race to survive. Until we’ve found a cure against the infertility, the breeding system is our best chance of that happening.”

“That’s cruel.” Sam narrowed her eyes. How could he, as a man who was gifted himself, talk so coldly about the oppression that was going on? “Those are people out there. Humans like you and me.” She fisted her hands and shook her head. “I don’t believe this.”

“We can’t change that at the moment.” Jack’s eyes blazed. “We can’t fight at all fronts. There are other fields that we have to spend our resources on. Preventing the human race from procreating hardly seems the right way to defeat the Aschen in the long run.”

“So, what, we’ll just let those people be?” This was infuriating. How could he talk about an entire class of people as though he didn’t care about them at all? As though they were casualties.

“That’s exactly what we’re doing.” His voice hardened. “And so will you.” He took a deep breath. “Sacrifices have to be made.”

Sam scoffed. “I see. Just not by you.”

Jack jerked up from his desk and slapped his palms on the files. “Don’t you dare believe this work doesn’t come with sacrifices.”

Sam held her breath, and swallowed hard.

“Sometimes you’ll have to make bigger sacrifices than any other human on Earth ever could.” His voice gentled when she lowered her head. “Trust me on this for now. Once your training is complete, I’m sure you’ll understand my reasons.”

Sam nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“I want you to give the treatment a try. So far there’ve been only minor side-effects, like mild headaches in the beginning. And you’ll be under constant surveillance, so no need to be concerned.”

“I’ll give it a try.” She lifted her eyes. His gaze was calm again, an almost amused glint in his eyes.

“Little piece of advice, though. In the future, you might wanna refrain from getting into discussions with superior officers. Not that I mind a bit of sass in a recruit, but some instructors and other camp leaders aren’t that liberal.”

She smiled. “Yes, sir. Sorry. I—This whole command structure thing is new for me. I’m grateful you’re giving me this chance.”

“Sam.” His tone softened as she turned to leave the tent. “From now on I want you to trust us. We can only react accordingly if you confide in us.”

“Understood.” With a faint smile, she turned and left the tent.

 

***

 

Jack swallowed hard as the young recruit left his tent. His eyes dropped down to her bare legs and he averted his gaze quickly. Damn was she beautiful. And feisty.

He still remembered his first day in the resistance, and the fierce speech he’d given his own camp commander about sharing weapons with the public. Sam Carter couldn’t know better, she hadn’t been briefed about their activities yet. Could he blame her for seeing things the way she did?

He chuckled and leaned back in his chair, his hands pressing against his forehead. He’d never met a woman so brave and ready to fight for her convictions. Somehow, he couldn’t shed the feeling she’d be a handful. But something about her perseverance, creativity and wits also told him she’d be worth the effort.

When he’d first seen her in the bar, he thought she was interesting. Only a blind person would be oblivious to her beauty. He groaned. _Here we go again._

She was his subordinate now, for crying out loud.

He couldn’t ogle a recruit and remain impartial in his judgment of her abilities. When it came to resistance matters, he’d always been able to tune out personal feelings. One-night-stands or affairs with co-workers, or worse, recruits, were out of the question.

He’d probably have to be careful around Carter. The rules didn’t forbid having affairs or even relationships with lower ranking members, but he’d seen affairs go wrong in other camps. When relationships went badly it tended to mess up operations.

He’d had many affairs when he was younger—right after Sara had left. He’d used sex as a means to vent his anger and pain, but as he grew older, the desire for such short-lived experiences faded. So, certainly he’d be able to keep his physical attraction for her in check.

He didn’t get involved with relationships that developed at camp. Considering their isolation, it was natural for people to grow close. Too strict rules lowered morel and motivation, especially with a cause as seemingly hopeless as theirs.

Yet he was very careful about getting involved with somebody himself. And he just had a feeling that Sam Carter would put this principle of his to the test, whether she intended to or not.


	7. Respect

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the new version of "Stargate Aschen", completely revised style-wise. 
> 
> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> Also, this version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

“Watch the stance!”

Sam grunted when another sharp blow hit her right in the stomach, sending her to the ground. Her hands fisted in the dirt as she coughed and her eyes stung.

“I said, _watch the stance_!”

She struggled for breath as her instructor Cameron Mitchell came stomping onto the field, enraged and yelling curses in the process.

Her opponent, recruit Tim Hanson, shrugged. “Sorry, sir, I’m trying to go easy on her.”

“Well, that’s the problem, isn’t it?” Mitchell stepped between them. “You shouldn’t have to go easy on people. Nobody’s gonna go easy on her in the field. Up! Get up!” He pulled Sam to her feet. “What exactly went wrong?”

Sam hated the tears streaming down her face from exhaustion. Her hands fisted as she tried to inhale despite the protest in her lungs.

“I’ll tell you what went wrong, recruit. You allowed your opponent an opening because of your stance. If this was in the field and Hanson was using a knife, you’d be dead.” He shoved her back into the middle of the makeshift ring. “This time watch your defense. And you.” Mitchell jabbed a finger at Hanson. “Stop going easy on her.”

Sam glared at her close combat instructor, and wiped the back of her hand across her cheeks. After taking another deep breath, she went into position and faced Hanson. Every muscle in her body ached.

She’d been scheduled for combat training for weeks and with every day that passed, she made more mistakes. Stupid mistakes.

Mitchell was the youngest colonel in the camp. As one of the best fighters, he was tasked with overseeing the daily training sessions. He seemed a decent guy, except he kept yelling at her.

“Stance!”

Sam winced and trembled, as he stepped up behind her and pushed her legs further apart. Maybe better manners wouldn’t hurt, either.

Her gaze fixated on her opponent. Feet apart, stance grounded. So far, so good. The instant Hanson attacked her, she jumped aside. Her fist struck out, but she failed to land a blow.

“Damn it, Carter!” So he was getting frustrated. Really? He wasn’t even the one getting beaten up.

Sam fumed. Hanson’s next blow struck her right in the face and she went tumbling to the ground. The world spun, her ears ringing. She clenched her hands as Mitchell stomped towards her again. “On your feet recruit! What do you think you’re doing? You think this is a vacation? Are you too stupid to listen to what I’m saying?”

Sam jumped up and glared at him. When the instructor reached out to grab her arm, she blocked his move with one hand, and slammed her fist into his face without caring for stance or technique. All he ever did was yell at her. She had enough.

Then she turned to Hanson and delivered a blow right to his stomach. There, that took care of his stupid smirk. She lifted her knee and hit him right between the legs. Satisfaction coursed through her as Hanson went to the ground, groaning in pain and holding his groin. Well, at least he was down. Screw the stance.

Mitchell took a step towards her. She shoved him away.

“Just shut up. I’m done here.” She turned around and walked off the training ground.

“Carter! Who do you think you are? Get your ass back here at once. We’re not done here. I promise you, when I’m finished with you—”

“We’re done!” Sam wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. The corner of her lower lip began to swell up from one of the blows. She winced, when she touched the injury with her finger and a sharp pain shot through her cheek. Damn. If there was one thing that she would never do, it was cry in front of these people.

She stormed around the corner of the food tent, and collided with the hard muscular planes of a man’s chest. Her head snapped up. O’Neill. Damn. This day couldn’t get any worse.

“Carter.” His eyebrows rose as he studied her. “You okay?”

“Peachy. Just leave me…” She lifted her hands and walked around him. If only she didn’t have to see anybody for the rest of the day.

 

***

 

Jack looked after her, and shook his head. He turned to continue on his way when Mitchell stormed around the corner, much like Carter had before.

“Carter, you get your ass back here now, or don’t come back at all!”

“Screw you!”

Jack’s face darkened as he watched the young woman disappear in the tent she shared with Janet and Vala. He put his hand firmly on Mitchell’s chest before the training instructor could storm after her.

“Hey, Mitchell. What the hell’s going on here?”

“She’s impossible.” Mitchell glared at him. “She’s the worst student I’ve ever seen. She doesn’t listen to instruction; she is stubborn, completely unskilled—“

Jack suppressed a smirk when he saw the bruise on the instructor’s face. “She seems to have gotten you good.”

“And she’s disrespectful,” Mitchell snapped. “One day in the field, and she’ll be dead. With her skillset, she’s not fit for any of the teams. She’s an accident waiting to happen.”

“I see.” Jack’s initial amusement faded. He’d figured it would come down to this. During the past few weeks, he’d received repeated reports about Carter talking back, or refusing to follow orders. She was smart. Maybe too smart for her own good.

Up to now, he’d refrained from getting involved in the situation. This kind of behavior wasn’t unusual for strong-minded recruits. He couldn’t let the latest incident slip though, especially with what he’d just witnessed.

He hit Mitchell’s shoulder in a friendly way. “Get back to the training grounds. I’ll handle the situation and straighten her out.”

Mitchell gave a sarcastic chuckle. “If you think you can turn her around. It’s been three weeks. Three fucking weeks, and she can’t defend herself from the mildest blows.”

Jack looked after the man as he stormed off. Then his eyes fixated on the tent Carter had disappeared into, and he set into motion. He wouldn’t have this kind of drama in his camp, and most importantly, he would not have recruits beating up or talking disrespectfully to their instructors.

Without announcing his presence, he entered the tent.

Carter sat on the floor next to the thin mat that served as her bed. She wiped her cheek with a wet cloth, apparently trying to wash the dirt off.

“I’m not going back.”

She didn’t even bother turning around. The snippiness in her tone tipped him over the edge. Okay, that was enough. She needed a lesson in obedience.

“Yes, you will.”

Her head jerked around and her eyes widened. Then she lifted her chin defiantly. He narrowed his eyes. Talking to her in her current state would be useless. Maybe it was time for more unconventional training methods. “You know what, you need to cool off, recruit.”

He grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet, dragging her with him from the tent. She stumbled after him.

“Let me go, sir. What are you doing?” She fought against his grip but he didn’t let up. “Jack! Let go!” She stumbled and fell. He pulled her roughly back to her feet.

He pulled her through the bushes down a narrow path until they reached the edge of a steep rocky cliff. It wasn’t high, just about three meters down to the small, clear lake, framed by rocks and cliffs on all sides. A thin river cascaded down the rocks into the lake in a small waterfall at the other side.

He grabbed the young woman by her shirt and swung her over the edge, down into the cold water of the lake.

Then he leaned on his upper thigh and bent over the edge to look down at her. She resurfaced with heavy coughs. Good, so she could swim. Perfect. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” She was still coughing. Her hands rubbed over her face. Apparently, she was too dumbfounded to remember her anger.

With a smirk, Jack sat down on a rock and plucked one of the long leaves of grass to twirl it between his fingers.

“Jack.”

He concentrated on rolling the leaf up.

“Jack!”

Jack cleared his throat and leaned back. At this rate, he’d be here a while.

“Sir!”

Wow, surprise. She’d gotten the message sooner than he thought. “I’m listening.” He didn’t move an inch.

“How do I get back out of here?”

“With the rope ladder that’s lying up here.”

Another long moment of silence. “Are you going to throw it down to me?”

Sighing, he got up and leaned over the edge to look down at her. “Once I’m certain you remember your rank, and how to properly address superior officers and instructors.”

Carter closed her eyes and shook her head. “Listen, I’m sorry about what happened before, but Mitchell was…”

“That’s Colonel Mitchell to you, recruit.” He put a deliberately sharp tone into his voice, and she flinched. “And at this point I don’t care what happened. Recruits under my command do not tell their instructors to screw themselves. Nor do they beat them up. Is that clear?”

“Well, sir.” For her own benefit, he decided to overlook the sarcastic emphasis she put on his rank. “He doesn’t give me a chance to fight. When I was alone and had to defend myself, I got by. There was nobody standing next to me yelling at me about all the things I did wrong. I know I’m not the best fighter, but I can be better. A lot better, sir, if he stopped criticizing every move I make.”

Jack frowned. He knew that Mitchell could be a little too stiff sometimes. A few of the things she said were probably true, but was no excuse for the way she’d handled the situation.

“So you decided to disrespect and attack him?”

“He wanted me to fight, so I gave him what he wanted.” Was that smugness in her tone?

His jaw clenched. “Carter.”

The warning in his voice must have alarmed her, because she paled and lowered her eyes. “Sorry, sir.”

“That’s not how we do things here. If you can’t adapt to a command structure, I suggest you say so now. I damn sure don’t wanna be stuck in the field with someone who suddenly decides she doesn’t like my orders anymore and beats me up over it. Say the word and you’re out. There’ll be no second chances, though.”

Something flashed across her face. Self-doubt? Anger? Desperation? He wasn’t sure, but then she lowered her head with a sigh. “I’ll adapt.” Barely audible.

Jack raised his eyebrows. “Excuse me? I didn’t quite get that.”

“I’ll adapt, sir.” She locked her gaze with his. “I’m sorry I disrespected Colonel Mitchell. It won’t happen again.”

“Damn right, it won’t. I have no patience for disrespect.”

“Yes sir.”

He scrutinized her. Was she gonna be able to change her behavior like that? She’d been a troublemaker during the past couple of weeks, but he’d also seen how determined she could be once she set her mind to something. He had no doubt she’d be a real asset provided she straightened out. “Will you throw down the ladder, sir?”

“Not yet.” Jack lifted his eyes to the far end of the lake. “You’ll swim to the other end and back. Thirty laps overall. Clear your head and cool down. Once you’re done with that, you can come out. I’ll be back in thirty minutes to check on your progress.”

He walked back from the edge to sit down on a rock out of sight. Since he didn’t know just how good a swimmer she was, he wouldn’t leave her alone yet. Besides, he wanted to see if she’d follow orders even if she thought superiors weren’t present. 

She’d repeatedly displayed insubordinate behavior. How deep did her inability to follow orders go? Was she only disobeying orders for what she considered a good reason, or was she generally unwilling to bend to command structure? Would she respect his authority even if he wasn’t present?

He plucked another grass stalk and started chewing on it, waiting. So far she hadn’t made any move to follow his order. Then she started cursing. Jack scrunched his brows. Damn. She might have made a good recruit, but without the willingness to follow orders—

Water started splashing. In surprise, Jack lifted his head and peaked over the edge. She’d started swimming. He smirked and lay back against the rock again.

She did the crawl all the way to the far end of the lake, then back. She wasn’t a bad swimmer, but there was room for improvement. He checked his watch. One complete lap in two minutes and six seconds. Not too shabby for a recruit.

When half an hour had passed, he jumped up and leaned over to look down as she approached again. “Hey, Carter!”

She stopped. Panting, she brushed the water out of her face.

“Sir?”

“Done with your thirty laps?” He knew she wasn’t. Would she lie about it, though?

“No sir. Fourteen laps.”

Loyalty certainly wouldn’t be a problem with her. His face gentled. Honesty was something he valued above all else. He kicked the end of the rope ladder down with his foot.

“Come on up already.”

She gripped the end of the ladder, her breathing still shallow and fast. “I’m not done yet, sir.”

“I know that.” He straightened and looked up into the clear blue sky. “I wasn’t expecting you to finish the thirty laps. It’s enough for today.”

“Yes, sir.” She pulled herself out of the water and climbed up the ladder. She could barely stand without trembling, yet she uttered no word of complaint. Jack studied her for a moment. Maybe he’d driven her a bit too far.

“Dry off, and have Janet look at your cheek and lip.” He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Tomorrow morning you’ll report to combat class as scheduled. I expect you to apologize to Colonel Mitchell for the insubordination today.”

“Yes, sir.” She gave a shaky nod.

“Go rest.”

“Thank you, sir.”

 

***

 

The next morning, Jack strolled towards the training grounds with a file under his arm and a coffee in hand. He nodded at the two men who’d been on watch duty that night and were now cheerfully trudging up to the food tent to get breakfast.

Once he reached the wooden bench at the far side of the training field, he sat down and put the file and coffee next to him. He was gonna observe Carter’s lesson today. That way he’d be able to see for himself what the problem was.

She showed up to the lesson as ordered. When she arrived, she walked up to Mitchell and exchanged a few words with him. Mitchell straightened and gave her one of his best glares. 

“Damn right you’ll be sorry, recruit. You think you’re better than everyone else? That you don’t have to follow orders?”

Jack flinched. The man sure wasn’t gonna make it easy on her, but she apparently needed the tough treatment for a while.

“No, sir!” Her eyes looked straight ahead and she didn’t move a muscle as Mitchell stalked around her.

“You still think it’s a good idea to beat up a superior officer, Carter?”

“No, sir!”

Damn, but she could follow orders if she wanted to. Jack smirked and took a sip of his coffee. Her determination sure was impressive.

“You expect me to go easy on you, recruit?”

“No, sir!”

“Damn straight I won’t. Fifty laps around the training grounds! Go! And when you’re done with that I wanna see your push-ups! Move! Move! Move!”

“Yes, sir!”

Oy. Jack rubbed his palm across his face. He hadn’t expected the instructor to be that strict. Carter started running. Pretty fast runner, too. Her body was in excellent shape—maybe a bit too thin, though. Janet had informed him she’d been losing weight during the first weeks of her training. He’d have her food rations doubled for a while. She should be building muscle, not losing it.

He sipped his coffee and watched her complete her exercise. Fifty laps around the court and then thirty pushups. Then her combat training began.

Carter hadn’t exaggerated in her description of the problem. Mitchell was giving her little leeway for mistakes.

She failed to dodge a blow from Hanson that she should have easily foreseen Panting, she went to the ground. Jack winced. Yeah, that had been a stupid mistake. And she knew that, judging by the expression on her face. Still, Mitchell yelled at her. _Back up, fella. Let her figure it out for herself. She knows the freakin’ basic stances._

Carter got back to her feet. She certainly didn’t lack perseverance. Mitchell came up behind her, and verbally corrected her stance again. The change in Carter’s behavior was visible. Her focus shifted from her opponent to the way she was standing, her entire body radiating hesitation.

Hanson attacked and she managed a sloppy defense only to hit the ground again five seconds later.

“Oh, fer crying out loud.” Jack got up. He’d seen Carter defend herself against him in the barn. Even untrained, she’d been more agile and creative than this. Today, she was a living example of how rules sometimes stood in the way of excellence.

Mitchell was young—not as young as the recruits, but he made the youngest colonel at camp. He’d been transferred to their camp six months ago after his exemplary performance in another cell. An outstanding fighter, with weapons and without.

He hadn’t spent a lot of time in the field, though. Therefore, he had to make up for what he lacked in experience with reliance on regulations and protocol. In some cases waving a rulebook around simply wasn’t the ideal approach. Carter was a nice example of that. She knew the rules and stances, she just had to develop an intuition for applying them.

“Alright, kids.” He started walking towards the combatants. Watching Carter let herself get beaten down in a fight she could have easily won was just sad. “Can anybody tell me what’s going wrong here?”

“I’m sorry.” Mitchell turned and shrugged. “I’m trying my best.”

“So am I, sir.” Carter panted.

“That’s the problem now, isn’t it?” He looked from one to the other. “Everybody here is trying a bit too hard. Except you, Hanson. You’re going easy on her, which really isn’t the point of this exercise either.”

“Sorry, sir.” The recruit’s face turned red, his fingers fumbling, no doubt embarrassed at his performance.

“Mitchell, step back. Give her space.” Jack walked over to Carter and scrutinized her stance. “Carter, lighten up. When the hell did you become so tense?”

He gave her a little push between the shoulder blades and she stumbled forward. He rolled his eyes. Yeah, way too tense. “Concentrate less on how you’re standing and more on what’s going on around you. You don’t have time to think about stance in the field. And you—“ He looked at Hanson, gaze working the young recruit over. There really wasn’t anything wrong with him at the moment. “Take a break.”

“Yes, sir.” The man released a deep breath and turned to leave the field. Jack looked over the training ground, then waved another man over.

“Simmons. Join us for a moment, please.

A middle aged man trudged over to them, wiping his forehead of sweat from the training fight he’d just been involved in with a friend. “Sir?”

“I want you to fight Carter. Beat her up if she can’t defend herself.”

Carter gasped behind him. Jack turned to face her. “If you can’t defend yourself, you’ll suffer the consequences.”

He stepped up to her, prompting her to ease up on her rigid stance and glance up at his face. “I’d hate to have Doc Fraiser yelling at me for letting a ranked member beat you unconscious, so you better give it your best.”

She swallowed visibly.

“Jack.” Mitchell stepped forward, but a stern look from him shut him up.

“Ready?” Jack stepped back until he’d reached the fence surrounding the training area. “Go.” He sat down next to Mitchell on the bench.

“Jack.” Mitchell leaned in. “He’s too advanced. He’s gonna to beat her until she’s unconscious.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that.” Jack smirked and picked up his coffee again. “Don’t worry, I’m gonna step in if I see she can’t handle it. I’ve seen her move, and I’ve seen how she fights. And that was before she had three weeks of close combat training. You need to give her a little bit of leeway to learn for herself.”

“She couldn’t even beat Hanson, and he’s her level.” Mitchell scoffed. “I’m telling you, if Fraiser rips your head off for this, I want nothing to do with it.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “Yesterday, she got you and Hanson pretty good. I have a feeling you’ll have to address her primal emotions. Yesterday, anger. If today it’ll be fear, great. That’s gonna be closer to reality in the field anyway.”

Mitchell shook his head, his gaze not leaving his. “You’re really sure of yourself there, aren’t you?”

“She’s a natural. She has the instincts of a warrior. Don’t know where she developed them, and she herself sure doesn’t realize it. She knows the stances. The thing you gotta teach her is to trust in her abilities. In the field, her instinct is the only thing she can rely on.” He looked at the ring, where Carter and Simmons circled each other. “She can handle this.”

Jack observed the two warriors. He smiled when Carter landed the first blow after effectively blocking one. _You go, girl._

“I’ll be damned.” Mitchell straightened. Carter was focused, her stance open and grounded. Now she seemed to have developed an awareness for her opponent’s intentions. The wonders of adrenaline. Jack chuckled, his eyes not leaving the fight.

Carter stepped back in an attempt at evading an attack she wasn’t familiar with yet. Smart move. Jack’s interest grew. Intuitively assessing which attacks she could risk blocking, and which ones she was better evading all together. He flinched when she slipped in the mud and landed on the ground. She realized her mistake, he could see that in the way she winced and hit the ground with her fist. No use driving the point home.

Simmons’s next punch hit her right in the stomach, and she heaved in breath. She went to the ground again, but instead of giving up, used her legs to bring Simmons down with her.

“I can’t believe this is the same woman. Damn, she’s actually good.” Mitchell looked at Jack, his eyes wide in astonishment.

“Had a feeling. She just needs a little incentive, and for you to back off.” Jack chuckled. “I think she might actually win this one. Care for a little bet?”

“Nah, I think you might be right.” Mitchell grinned. “We better break them up. Simmons’s gonna be pissed if she actually wins.”

“Sure he will. But he’ll deal with it. It’s not like he hasn’t been beaten in a friendly fight before.”

“Yes, but never by a woman.”

Jack’s straightened and looked at him, his jaw clenching. “She’s a soldier. Whether she’s a man or a woman is irrelevant.” He narrowed his eyes. “Is there a problem with that?”

“Not at all. I’m just saying, a few of the soldiers and especially some of the recruits don’t see it the same way.”

“They don’t have a problem with Doc Fraiser.”

Mitchell shook his head. “Janet Fraiser’s not a soldier.”

“Vala Mal Doran is.”

“That’s different, and you know that. Some of the guys think a human woman has no place in the field.” Mitchell lifted his hands and shook his head. “Hey, don’t look at me like that. I’m not saying I share their opinion.”

“You can tell them whoever’s got a problem with treating Carter like any other male soldier is free to bring the issue up with me. I don’t like any of my men—or women—being discriminated against. We can’t afford to fight two battles—one against the Aschen, and one against each other. Have I made myself clear?”

“Crystal, sir.”

“Good.” Jack turned his eyes back to the fight.

Even though Carter was delivering some sharp blows, she also had to take them. He could see the fight would still go on for a while, until they were either both badly beaten, or one of them gave up from exhaustion.

“Come on, break them up. I think I’ve made my point.”

Mitchell walked into the center of the battle area. “Attention!” The two soldiers immediately stopped fighting and straightened up.

Jack grabbed his empty cup and the file, then got up from the bench. He’d leave the rest to Mitchell.  Surely the instructor would handle Carter the right way now.


	8. Survival

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the new version of "Stargate Aschen", completely revised style-wise. 
> 
> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> Also, this version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

“Alright, recruits.” O’Neill opened the file he’d been carrying with him all day.

Sam lifted her head and tried to hide her exhaustion. They’d walked through the forest for two hours, and she had yet to see the purpose of it. From the looks of the other recruits, she wasn’t the only one who had lost her motivation.

Her stomach growled and she pressed her hand against it with a wince.

O’Neill looked around. “You’re all stranded in an unfamiliar location with no way of getting home. Night is close, so you gotta make camp. You don’t have any weapons on you. Just your clothes.”

A collective groan rippled through the group. Sam closed her eyes. That probably meant she wouldn’t have lunch today. Or be able to take a shower in the foreseeable future.

O’Neill raised his brows. “That’s the spirit.” Sam could swear she saw a smirk play around his mouth. He looked at Colonel Sheppard and the other man stepped forward.

“You’ll all swarm out and prepare for the night. We won’t divide you into teams this time.” He gestured around him. “This clearing marks the meeting point. You can move in each direction from here, but don’t move more than twenty minutes away.” Sheppard held up a number of armbands. “Each of you will get one of these. They hold a sensor so we can keep track of your movements. We’ll pick you all up in about an hour.”

Tim Hanson stepped forward. “What are the rules, sir?”

O’Neill turned his head and dropped the file he’d been studying. “Survive the night.”

“That’s all?”

O’Neill straightened. “That’s all that matters, recruit.”

Sheppard looked up from his notes. “Use your heads, people, and think on your feet. And don’t consume any food or water you might gather during this exercise.” He sat down on a tree stump. “Those of you unfortunate enough to end up ‘dead’ by the end of the day will be on kitchen duty for the rest of the week. So take this exercise seriously.”

A mumble went through the group. Sheppard cleared his throat.

“We’re aware that most of you haven’t had any survival training. The idea of this exercise is to train you to deal with new situations.”

He handed out the wristbands. Sam clasped it around her arm.

“Alright, swarm out, people. And good luck.”

Sam raised her eyebrows when some recruits spread out in different directions. Where should she go? She didn’t know anything about this forest so all directions might be equally right or wrong. She turned and started walking into the forest.

If she wanted to stand a chance, she had to approach this logically. Her stomach growled again, and she sighed. If only they’d let them eat before the exercise.

Hunger was merely an inconvenience at this point, though. She’d learned to go without food for days when she’d been on her own. If she wanted to survive the night, she would need shelter—preferably a warm and save place that would shield her from weather and animals alike.

She faltered in her steps. In the distance, some of the other recruits trudged through the forest. Okay, running aimlessly through the forest was probably not the best approach.

She stopped and sat down on the trunk of a fallen tree to look around. The steps of the others grew quieter, more distant. A calm silence fell over the forest, occasionally interrupted by the distant howl of a bird or the cracking of branches somewhere nearby.

There was something else, though. Something she hadn’t even noticed over the sound of her steps and the chattering of the recruits. The distinct babbling sound of flowing water. Maybe a stream or a river, but definitely somewhere close by.

Water was a good start. If she found shelter somewhere close to a river, she’d have two of the three necessities taken care of. She’d also be more likely to find fruit or edible leaves near water.

She changed direction. Soon the water glistened through the thicket. It wasn’t a large stream, but it looked clear and clean.

The edge of the stream was earthy and covered in pine needles. In the distance, some of the other recruits walked away from her position along the water. If there was shelter anywhere downstream, they’d claim it before she got there. Going upstream made more sense.

Did she need shelter at all? Sam lifted her gaze up to the thick growth of pine needles above. The trees would provide a passable shelter from rain. If she instead made a fire, and searched for a sheltered spot under a tree, that should work just as well.

What about animals, though? She hesitated and picked up a small branch from the ground. Were there any animals in these woods she had to beware of? Certainly their instructors wouldn’t have let anyone wander off on their own if there was any danger of a brown bear attack. Still, _unknown location_ , they had said. Better to be prepared for anything.

She trudged through the underwood, and fought her way through some smaller bushes blocking the way. Berries grew on one of them. Her heart sped up. Food. She leaned in to examine the bush. With their small, round, dark shape, they vaguely reminded her of currants. Something was off about them though. Didn’t the leaves of currant bushes usually look different?

Picking strange berries might be a bad idea. She weighed one of the black fruits in her hand, then discarded it and moved on.

She followed the stream for another ten minutes, then stopped. Their instructors had ordered them not to move more than twenty minutes away from the meeting point. It was probably time to turn around.

Her gaze fell on a group of trees on the other side of the stream, so close to each other they formed a perfect half circle. Her pulse raced. Perfect shelter and enough space for her to build a fire.

The stream wasn’t steep. The ground looked pebbly and that meant it wouldn’t give way. If she watched where she stepped, crossing the water shouldn’t be a problem.

She pulled off her shoes and socks, then rolled up her khakis. The water was icy. Teeth clenched, she shuddered as she was wading through the stream. Once she reached the other side, she hurried to pull on her socks and shoes.

Just as she jumped up, she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She spun around. Another recruit walked towards her tree shelter. No way, that was her shelter. She raced towards the group of trees. So did the other recruit.

They reached it at the same time, both panting for air.

“This is _my_ shelter.” Jason Morris took a step towards the trees. Tall and lean, his body didn’t look like much, but she’d seen him in action. He had considerable strength. She stepped forward and blocked his way.

“I saw it first.”

“But I got here first.”

“No you didn’t.” She folded her arms. “We got here at the same time.”

They glared at each other. So he wasn’t going to back down. Well, neither was she. She didn’t have time to look for another shelter. Maybe both of them being here wasn’t a bad thing. The cluster of trees wasn’t an ideal shelter, but if they teamed up…

“How about we both take it?”

Morris let his arms drop. “What do you mean? Like form a team?”

“Just for shelter.” Sam smiled peaceably. “With ground shelter, we’d have to watch out for wild animals, and if there were two of us, we could take shifts. That would give each of us the opportunity to sleep for a few hours.”

His gaze held hers for a few moments before he nodded. “Actually not a bad idea. Although I’m not sure Sheppard and O’Neill want us to team up.”

“Colonel O’Neill said surviving was the only rule. They didn’t divide us into teams, but they never said we weren’t allowed to form them on our own.”

“You’re right,” Morris said and then shrugged. “Okay, seems we don’t have another choice anyway. But we’ll team up just for shelter.”

“Deal.” Sam looked around. “We can build our fire here.” She drew a small circle on the forest floor. Then she brushed away dry pine needles and branches with her hands to clear the area. Accidentally setting the forest on fire would be the worst possible outcome of their training mission. Dry pine needles usually went up like a match, and considering the amount of them covering the floor, she didn’t want to take chances.

Jason walked off into the forest, and after several minutes returned with a few dry branches and pieces of bark. “This should do for firewood.”

“We’ll need more if we want it to burn all night, though.” She scanned the floor for stones or smaller rocks. “And we need something to start the fire. We might have to dry stones from the river.”

Jason shook his head. “No, that won’t work. They’ll take forever to dry in this climate. The best rock to start a fire is a quartz. Maybe we’ll find one deeper in the forest.”

They searched the surrounding area for a few minutes, fighting through thorns and smaller bushes.

“We could also try to use wood for fire making, but that’s considerably harder.” Jason’s voice echoed and Sam looked up. He was about twenty meters away from her. “I found a cedar tree. Great wood for starting fires, but I’ve never managed to do it.”

“We’ll give it a try.” Sam winced when her pants got stuck on a dry thorn bush. “If nothing helps, we’ll have to revert to sharing body heat.”

There was a loud cracking sound. Sam looked up. Jason stared at her, his body tumbling slightly. “Say again?”

She shrugged. “I read it’s the most effective way of surviving and staying warm in the wild. And since we’re a team now…”

“I didn’t mean that kind of team.”

Sam rolled her eyes. Men. “I’m not trying to hit on you. It’s a recognized method of survival.”

“Alright, if you say so.” Jason walked towards her, a branch of cedar in his hand. “I’ll still give the fire a try first. No offense.”

“None taken.” Sam trudged back to their cluster of trees and began arranging the branches on their makeshift fireplace.

They had shelter and water. Now she needed food. Rubbing the back of her hand over her forehead, she looked around. Food was going to be a problem. The berries were the only thing she’d found. She didn’t have any weapons to hunt with. Where the hell was one supposed to find food in an area like this without any weapons?

“Hey Jason?”

The man looked at her as he kneeled next to the fireplace to arrange two more branches on it. “Yeah?”

“Any idea where we can find food?” She leaned back against one of the trees and watched him break one of the branches in an attempt to get it into the right shape.

“I have food.”

“Oh.” Well, they’d said they’d only team up for shelter.

He looked up with a sigh, then gestured behind him. “There’s a bush with berries a few minutes down the stream.”

“On the other side of the stream?”

“No, this one. It’s just a few hundred meters. If you hurry you might still make it.” He finally succeeded in breaking the branch and exhaled.

“Thank you.” Sam smiled and turned to hurry downstream. Then her heart sank. Sheppard and O’Neill trudged toward them on the other side.

“Damn, too late. I think our hour is up already.”

Jason straightened and dropped the branch with a frustrated groan. Sam flinched. No fire. And she had no food. Great. That would mean kitchen duty for the rest of the weak.

Sheppard and O’Neill crossed the stream and approached them. They didn’t even bother to take their shoes off or roll their pants up. Even in that, she had behaved incredibly amateurish.

“Carter. Morris.” O’Neill scanned their ‘camp’ with raised eyebrows.

“Sir.” Both stood at attention.

“What’s this?” Sheppard’s gaze fixated on the two recruits. Sam glanced at Jason next to her, but he looked equally confused by the question.

“Um… shelter, sirs.” Sam cleared her throat.

“These are trees,” O’Neill said wryly.

Sam nodded. “Yes, sir. But their tops are thick and won’t let any rain through. Their formation allows natural protection from behind. Our fireplace is right in front of it, which should make some of the heat reflect from the trees and provide enough warmth to sleep even without blankets. And there’s water right there.” She pointed at the stream. O’Neill raised his eyebrows and Sam shrank under his scrutiny. Damn, they’d messed up entirely, hadn’t they?

“I don’t see a fire yet.” Sheppard took a few notes on the file he carried.

“We…” Jason cleared his throat, then held up the cedar twigs. “We were in the process of making one, sir.”

“Not with those.” Sheppard said and took a few notes.

O’Neill circled the fireplace, his eyes narrowed.

“Well, sirs.” Sam closed her eyes. “We considered the possibility we might not be able to start a fire. We figured we’d share body heat in that case.”

O’Neill’s gaze fixated on her. “You teamed up?”

“You didn’t specify we weren’t allowed to, sir,” she said.

Their camp commander nodded blankly and looked at Sheppard who took more notes.

“Why’d you team up?”

“We couldn’t find any other shelter, sir, and Carter suggested if we teamed up, we could share this one and take turns standing watch. That way we’d each get some sleep.” Jason shifted his feet.

So she wasn’t the only one who thought they were in trouble.

“Good thinking, Carter.” O’Neill stepped back next to Sheppard. Sam’s eyes widened. Was he being sarcastic? His face was blank as always, so she couldn’t tell.

“Um, thank you, sir.” Even if he were serious, would it be enough to make up for their failings? She hadn’t found any food.

“Alright…” O’Neill nodded and stuck his hands into his pockets. “You got acceptable shelter, we’ll give you full points for that. You don’t have a fire, but your body-heat sharing idea saves your asses. Water is obvious. How about food?”

“I have these, sir.” Jason pulled a few berries out of the pockets of his khakis. O’Neill looked at them and nodded at Sheppard, who began writing again. “Did you eat any?”

“No, sir. I thought we weren’t allowed to eat anything.”

“Just making sure you remembered my order. It stands until the mission briefing at the meeting point is over.” He turned to Carter. Sam held his gaze and swallowed hard, fidgeting. “Carter?” Impatience dripped through his voice.

“I…” She flinched. Damn, there had to be something she could do, or say. Why hadn’t she just taken the berries from earlier? She exhaled. “I don’t have food, sir.”

“Wasn’t on your priority list?”

Sam became even more uncomfortable under his scrutiny. “It was, sir. Frankly, I’m starving. I just thought it’d be more important to find shelter, so I took care of that first. The human body can go without food for quite a while, so I figured once I had shelter I’d take care of other things. And then our time was up.” Yeah, she should have just taken some of the berries with her. At least she’d have something to show them.

“I see.” O’Neill stalked around her. “You didn’t pass by the berries Morris found? There are bushes on either side of the stream.”

“I did, Sir.”

“But?”

“But I wasn’t sure if they were good, sir.”

“So you decided it’d be better to go to sleep hungry?”

Sam winced. “I thought, better hungry than possibly sick or dead. Sir.”

“Alright.” Jack nodded and walked back to Sheppard, who clipped his pen back into the pocket of his shirt. “We’ve heard enough. Will you two find your way back to the meeting point?”

Sam’s shoulders slumped. She’d failed. Maybe she’d walked by some source of food without recognizing it? She’d read so many books, why hadn’t she been able to judge the berries correctly? “We will, sir.”

“Good. Make your way back there then. We’ll meet up with all of you after we’re done.”

“Yes, sir.” They both replied in unison, and watched the instructors walk away. Sam sighed when they were out of earshot and walked over to the trees to sink against them. “Damn.”

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I should have given you some of my berries. We could have said that we collected them together.” Jason put his hand on her shoulder.

“It’s fine.” Sam shook her head. “They would have known we were lying. They’re tracking our movements, remember? I’m sure they saw we only teamed up after we had long passed the berry bush.”

“Tell you what, next time we’ll team up from the start.” He nudged her with his shoulder.

“Yeah.” Sam nodded with a weak smile. Sheppard and O’Neill had insinuated that they expected them to make mistakes, but she couldn’t help being angry at herself for not paying more attention.

They waded through the stream back to the other side. This time Sam didn’t take her boots off and winced as cold water flooded in and soaked her socks. Their feet made squishy sounds as they strolled back in the direction of their meeting point.

“So.” Jason picked up a branch and drew random patterns in the pine needles on the floor as they walked. “You think they’ll let us eat any time soon?”

“I hope they won’t take our success at finding food today into account for tonight’s dinner ration.”

“Don’t worry.” Jason smiled at her. “I’ll share mine with you if they cut yours.”

“Thanks.”

“It was a good idea. The body heat sharing, I mean.” He looked straight ahead. “I have to admit, when you suggested it I thought you were making that stuff up, but apparently O’Neill and Sheppard accepted it. It saved at least parts of our asses. How did you know about it?”

“I read about it.” When she saw his confused stare, she shrugged. “I like to read.” She lowered her gaze to the floor. How long had it been since she’d read a good book? God, how she missed that. “At least I used to do it when I was still in proximity of a library. How did you know about the fire?”

“I saw it once. When I was little, my parents took me on a trip and our camp guide started a fire like that. I guess my memory must have faded a little.”

“Don’t sweat it.” Sam gave him a warm smile. “I wouldn’t even know where to start. At least you had an idea, and I am sure at some point you’d have succeeded.”

“Yeah?” He raised his eyebrows and they both laughed. It was quite a walk back to the meeting point.

Sam buried her hands in her pockets, and inhaled. “So, how do you like training so far?”

“It’s fine. You?”

“Yeah. It’s okay.”

He shot her a sidelong glance. “Different from what you thought it would be?”

Sam nodded. “A little. Not that I am complaining. Just that, I expected something else. I thought it’d be more about covert operations, strategy and such.” She’d thought finding a resistance contact and convincing him to bring her into the organization would be the hard part. Her first month alone had been easy compared to this.

Now she constantly had to fulfill expectations, most of which she lacked the skills to fulfill. She’d never been good at physical exercises. Her strength lay with the sciences. She was good with her head, her body not so much.

There was a science department at camp. So maybe once she completed training she could do something related to that.

“What about you?” She glanced at Jason.

“Well, I kinda expected this.” He shrugged and flicked a little stone into the stream with his branch. “My family has a proud tradition of being in the resistance. I was recruited by one of my brothers.”

“Wow. A resistance family?” She didn’t even know there was such a thing.

“Yeah.” Jason nodded. “They didn’t tell me anything about what it would be like, but my brother devised a physical work-out to prepare me for training. Your family isn’t resistance?”

Sam faltered, and turned her head away to study the dimness of the forest. “I don’t have any family.”

Her father was definitely the opposite of a resistance member. As a loyal servant to the Aschen Ministry, he was considered a traitor, a collaborator, by these people. Besides, after she’d run away, she wasn’t sure he’d ever want to see her again.

“Oh.” Jason looked at his feet. “Well, at least you don’t have anybody to disappoint then.”

“Right.” _Just myself._ Her chest constricted as she remembered her dad. Was he worried about her? Maybe he was searching for her. Or had he assumed that she’d committed suicide after nearly three months? Depressing thoughts. She looked at Jason. “So, have you made any friends yet?”

“Well. You’re pretty okay. I get along well with Lee, though he’s a bit older. And I share a tent with Jennings. He isn’t bad either. How about you?”

“Well, there’s you.” She laughed. “And a couple of the other guys. Some of them seem to be avoiding me off-duty.”

“Such as Hanson?” Jason smirked.

Sam’s head jerked around. “You noticed?”

“Yeah. I think it bugs him they let a woman in. No offense.” Jason shrugged and kicked one of the smaller branches into the stream. “I personally don’t care, as long as I can trust people. I can trust you. Not so sure about Hanson yet, so I’m just ignoring him.”

“He’s good though. He always scores the highest points.”

“That he does.” Jason shrugged. “But that doesn’t say anything about his character.”

“True.” Sam nodded.

After a long walk, they finally reached their meeting point. A few of their fellow recruits had already gathered and waited. Everybody was busy discussing how they’d mastered (or failed) the challenge they’d been given.

Tim Hanson bragged about having gotten points for all three: shelter, water and food. He’d found a cave near the water downstream, and he and two other guys had come across a lonesome apple tree.

Finally, Sheppard and O’Neill returned, accompanied by the last recruit to return.

“Alright people.” Immediately the group stood at attention at O’Neill’s announcement. “We have a few lucky people who survived today, and a whole lot who didn’t. Reyes, Lee and Stewart…” He looked up at the three men. “You froze to death. Next time, remember to take care of shelter first before running off to chase some rabbit for dinner.” His face remained blank but there was an audible wryness in his tone. Sam stifled a smile. Then she remembered that she’d messed up as well. Unlike her, at least the three of them had thought about food.

“Millowitz, you didn’t have shelter, either. Wong, Niles, Morris, Stanton and Jennings—you’re all dead too.”

Morris? What? Sam looked at Jason next to her. Why on Earth was he dead? He glanced back at her in confusion, and straightened up when O’Neill’s gaze came to rest on him.

“Next time make sure to choose berries you know are edible.”

“But… those were currants, sir.” Stanton fidgeted.

O’Neill raised his eyebrows. “They weren’t. The berries might have looked the same, but the plant they’re growing on is called nightshade. If you eat a lot of them, the result’s a rather unpleasant death.” He looked around. “So I hope you all followed the standing orders not to eat anything.”

“Um, sir.” Face pale, Stanton raised his hand.

“Oh for crying out loud.” O’Neill looked at the recruit grimly. “It seems we have a candidate who will spend the night in the medical tent. And the next two days after that in confinement for defying a direct order. How many berries did you have?”

“Five. Maybe a couple more. I was just so hungry, sir.”

“Well, lucky for you, that’ll only cause a stomach ache. Consider it a valuable lesson, recruit. Report to the doc once we’re back at camp.” 

“Oh crap.” Next to Sam, Jason looked down at his pockets. O’Neill’s glanced at him and visibly fought a smirk. 

“Yeah, you might wanna empty those out.” His eyes shifted to Sam. She straightened. “Carter, Longfellow, Hanson and Richmond, you all survived. You’re lucky enough to have the evening off. Go enjoy a warm meal at the food tent.”

Sam’s eyes widened, and she glanced at Jason. What the hell happened? How was this possible?

O’Neill closed his file. “I expect you all to write a report about the proceedings today. I want you to detail every one of your steps, and explain why you took them. That‘ll help us determine whether you were actually using your heads or just got lucky. Hand it in tomorrow morning at the briefing. Dismissed.”

Sam relaxed visibly and turned to walk back to camp with the other recruits.

“Carter.” Sheppards voice made her stop. “A word, please?”

Swallowing hard, Sam stepped closer. “Sir?”

“You ever had survival training before?” O’Neill picked up the items lying on the tree trunk.

Sam shook her head. “No, sir.” He looked up and his intense gaze sent tingles through her. “Well, sir, I lived on the streets for a while and picked up a few things there, but if you’re referring to actual training like this? No.”

“You were the only one of the recruits who didn’t have any food at all.”

Yeah, she had been. Why hadn’t they failed her? At least the other recruits had made an attempt at gathering food. She straightened out and swallowed hard. “Yes, sir.”

“I look forward to reading your report, recruit.” O’Neill’s lips twitched into a smile, and she held his gaze. No trace of irony or sarcasm. Her stomach did a little lurch. In the dimness of the forest, his eyes looked almost black. Hesitantly, she smiled back at him.

“Yes, sir.”

“Dismissed.”

Sam turned to catch up with Jason and the other recruits. Why was O’Neill looking forward to reading her report?

The final evaluation of the exam would depend on the reports, so maybe she’d screwed up after all and they just needed confirmation of it. Then again, he’d smiled at her. And what a smile it had been. Warm, and intense. Encouraging.

Sam’s steps slowed. There was no use racking her brains over this. She’d learn about the results the next day, and if they decided she’d screwed up, she’d have to learn from her mistakes. She’d done her best and at this point that was all she could do.

 

***

 

A mild breeze played through the grass. Sam inhaled deeply. The air smelled faintly of wet grass and pines from the previous night’s rain. She walked past the food tent. 

It was early afternoon already. Their final mission briefing wouldn’t start for another two hours. Too bad, there wasn’t a lot to do at camp for those who didn’t have training or briefings scheduled. One of Janet’s medical books under her arm, she strolled over to the training ground.

O’Neill was training with Mitchell. Sam leaned onto the wooden bar of the fence and watched the two men. O’Neill was rumored to be the best fighter at camp. Certainly a fight between him and Mitchell would be interesting.

How unusual to see Colonel Mitchell in the position of a student. She had assumed their teachers had already learned everything there was to learn but that didn’t seem to be the case. Life here at camp seemed to be a constant process of learning, no matter what rank one held.

O’Neill effortlessly blocked one of Mitchell’s advanced attacks and rendered him motionless on the ground. She lifted her head. Damn, he was good. How had he managed to do that?

The flawlessness of his technique left her in awe. She tried to focus her eyes on his stances, tried to follow the fight as best as she could, but their movements were too fast. It certainly took years, if not decades of training to become that proficient in close combat. As things were, she had trouble applying basic stances in stressful situations. She’d never get close to beating someone as good as O’Neill in a hand-to-hand fight.

With a sigh, she straightened. Maybe she’d been kidding herself thinking she could make it in the resistance. Yes, she was good with repairing things, and good at understanding scientific concepts. But in the end she was just book smart. None of that was of much use here.

The two men ended their fight with a friendly shoulder clap and exchanged a few words, undoubtedly evaluating their performances.

 _I wonder where he comes from._ Sam studied O’Neill thoughtfully. His tan looked even darker in the daylight. He was different from any man she’d ever met. And he had extraordinary skills that one didn’t just learn anywhere on the streets. But his dark, threatening side fascinated her even more.

How long had he been with the resistance? What kind of operations was he involved in? Certainly, a man with his skills wasn’t just reduced to training recruits and writing reports.

When he turned his head and their gazes met, she jerked her head up and her cheeks flared. Damn, she hadn’t meant for him to catch her staring. 

His eyebrows rose and he nodded at her, turning to walk toward her. Sam lifted from the fence.

“Carter.” He smiled at her, still a few meters away. “Enjoyed watching the training?”

Sam swallowed and forced a smile. “Sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to stare.” He smirked. “Sir, may I ask what kind of technique you just used?”

His eyes sparkled.

Sam cleared her throat. “Well, the stances looked different from what we are taught.”

O’Neill nodded. “Yeah, it’s very advanced. More focused on coordinated attacks than the basic defensive training you’re starting out with.” He came to stand in front of her on the other side of the fence. “I read your report about yesterday’s survival training. Do you have a minute to talk about it?”

“Oh. Yes, of course.” She nodded. O’Neill walked around the fence to join her. Slowly, they strolled up the hill to a few wooden benches. He grabbed the towel lying there and rubbed his face with it.

“I like your writing style. Succinct and sticking to the things that matter. Maybe a bit too wordy at times, but over time you’ll develop a feeling for that.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And I like the way you think, recruit.” O’Neill dropped the towel and sat on the bench. Sam looked at him in surprise. “You’re resourceful and creative. You did make a few mistakes, but that’s to be expected.”

“Like not having found any food, sir?” She sighed, and he studied her intensely for a moment.

“No. Like thinking you needed it.”

“What?”

“The requirement was to be alive by the end of the day. You assessed correctly that you can go several weeks without food. Why did you still worry about it?” He kept his eyes locked on her face as she stared at him blankly.

“I thought…” He was right. She knew one could go without food for days or weeks. Why had she worried about it? “I thought you expected it, sir.”

“Ah.” Jack nodded. “There’s your first problem. You overthought the situation. You seem to be pretty smart, and you have a keen instinct for survival, Carter. But you gotta learn to distinguish when to rely on your head, and when on your guts.”

“Yes, sir.” She lowered her eyes in mild frustration.

“Don’t sweat it. That’s something that’ll come with experience and practice. You said at the end of your report that you didn’t have enough time to go back and get the berries. So if we had arrived later, would you’ve had the berries then?”

Sam’s winced. “I think I would have, sir.”

The expression on his face gentled. “You know that means you actually lost too, right?”

She nodded and glanced at the food tent. “Kitchen duty, then?”

He chuckled and scraped his hand through his hair. “No. Just making a point. Why did you change your opinion about the berries?”

“I’m not that versed in botany. Jason was certain they were black currants. And I…” Damn. She flinched and brushed a hand through her hair. She’d doubted herself. Despite her gut instinct, she had put another recruit’s opinion above her own and automatically assumed he was right.

“You doubted your own assessment.”

“I’m afraid so, sir.”

Her whole life, she’d been a good student and always known the correct answers to every study question she’d faced. Now she was constantly swimming in a sea of unknowns none of which she had answer to yet. Learning from books and making calculations had been easy.

“Considering what I’m reading on your face, I think I can save you and myself the speech about self-doubt.”

Sam smiled at the wryness in his voice. “Yes, sir.”

“You learned a valuable lesson yesterday, Carter. If you team up with somebody and decide their assessment is more valid than your own, you gotta be damn sure that you can rely on that person’s judgment.”

He was right. Nothing had indicated that Jason had deeper knowledge of plants, except for the self-secure way in which he’d proclaimed the berries were currants.

That wasn’t even a survival-training mistake. Even in science, claims had to be backed up by fact. Why on Earth had she just taken Jason’s word for it?

O’Neill got up and put his hand on her shoulder. “Sometimes self-doubt is the only thing standing in the way of an excellent performance.”

She stared at him. Excellent? Had he really just called the rest of her performance excellent?

“There is no right or wrong in most of the tasks, Carter. As we stressed, it’s about survival. So lose that attitude of trying to please and fulfilling expectations. Stick to the mission you’ve been given. Use your head and the means at your disposal to fulfill the task.”

“Yes, sir.”

His lips twitched into a smirk. He dropped his hand and threw the towel over his shoulder. “Alright, I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.” He began walking backwards towards the food tent. “So I’m gonna go have lunch.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’ll see you later on at the briefing.”

“Have a good lunch.” She gave him a beaming smile, and he faltered in his steps, suddenly looking slightly put off. Then he returned her smile. And what a stunning smile it was. She swallowed as her stomach flip-flopped.  Hurriedly, she turned and clenched the book to her chest. Damn, what was wrong with her? What the hell had that been?

She turned her head once more looking back. And found him doing the same. What on Earth? Cheeks burning, she hurried to her tent.

 

***

 

Jack looked after the young woman as she rushed up to her tent. Damn, she was beautiful. The sunlight reflecting off her hair made it look almost golden. And that smile. Got to him every time. He could swear he’d just seen a similar reaction in her, but that might just be wishful thinking. And even if it weren’t, he was married for crying out loud.

_Get it together, O’Neill._

Carter was an interesting woman. But more importantly, she was a promising recruit. She got better day by day. Her progress at close combat during the past two weeks was remarkable. She was smart. The kind of smart that couldn’t be trained into a person. Even when faced with previously unknown situations, she adapted and tried to figure them out with a cool head.

Her performance during the survival training session had been outstanding for somebody who’d never had professional survival training before. Not only did she possess intuition, she’d displayed team spirit and creativity. It had been the first exercise in which she’d surpassed Tim Hanson who usually got the highest marks.

Hanson had done well, but he hadn’t put much thought into his actions. He’d gotten lucky passing and his report had made that clear.

Carter had strategized first, and then acted. If she hadn’t strayed from her own assessment, her performance would have been flawless. Someone like her would be really well suited for work in Cell 4. She handled unknown and unprecedented situations with a cool head and came up with a reasonable plan.

He’d definitely keep an eye on her.


	9. Disobedience

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the new version of "Stargate Aschen", completely revised style-wise. 
> 
> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> Also, this version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

Sam wiped the sweat from her forehead and raced along the uneven forest path. Her muscles screamed for rest, but she pushed on. The backs of two recruits disappeared into the trees. Damn, they would show her up again.

This deep into the forest, the large trees shielded the ground from sunlight, but the resulting drop in temperature did nothing to cool her down. She’d never been this drained, physically or mentally.

Another field-training day. She’d hardly done anything else during the past weeks besides running through the forest on some make-believe mission. Always with the same outcome. Somebody screwed up, and in the end they all got in trouble for it.

Colonel Sheppard didn’t care whose fault it was. At least not officially. Rumor was O’Neill kept detailed records of mistakes and who exactly was responsible for them.

A lot of times she was the one who made the mistake. Some of the recruits grew impatient with her already. A ‘girl’ didn’t belong among them, or so they said. Sam couldn’t blame them with all the mistakes she made. The pressure added to her stress, which made her make more mistakes. Vicious circle.

She flicked more sweat out of her eyes. Her training would never end. She would never be good enough to become a full member of the resistance. Maybe she had overestimated her abilities. Back when she had set out to join them in their fight against the Aschen, she had thought it’d be easy.

Nothing had prepared her for this. Endless days of crawling and running through the forest, superiors constantly yelling at her, and worst of all, the constant obligation to obey every order. She was getting sick of it.

For a fraction of a second, Sam lost her focus. Her foot snagged on a root sticking out of the forest floor. She landed on all fours. Pain shot through her ankle, and she winced. Jason, who was running behind her, tripped over her, and with a curse, landed a few feet further ahead in the dirt.

“Aaargh… God, Carter.”

“Sorry.” Sam leaned up on her elbows. Damn, that hurt. But she wouldn’t show weakness again. “You okay?”

“My leg freaking hurts.”

She crawled over to him. He was a decent guy, serious and not afraid to speak his mind. With him, she always knew exactly where he stood. She respected him for that. Carefully, she examined his leg and then exhaled.

“It’s not broken. You may have sprained your ankle, though.”

Before he could give her a snippy answer, steps approached and they looked up. Hanson came jogging towards them. He was their appointed team leader for the day. Great. Sam closed her eyes. _Here it comes._

“What’s up? The others are almost there already. We can’t lose again.” Hanson jumped from one leg to the other.

Sam rolled her eyes. Always so arrogant and condescending.

“I fell. Jason couldn’t stop in time and tripped over me.”

Hanson groaned and stopped moving. “Of course you did.” He muttered a curse. “Is his leg broken?”

“No.” Sam got up. Pain shot from her foot through her leg but she ignored it. “He still needs to see the doctor. His ankle is swelling up. I’m taking him back to camp.”

“The hell you are.” Hanson glared at her. “Morris, can you walk?”

“Think so.”

“Then he can make his way back to camp alone.”

“No.” Sam fisted her hands. Technically, she was getting close to insubordination again.  Hanson was their team leader for the duration of this mission, so not following his orders could get her in trouble. His decision was wrong, though. “We don’t leave people behind. We made that mistake on day one.”

Hanson looked as though he was about to attack her. Sam narrowed her eyes. Fine, if he wanted to beat her up, she wouldn’t make it easy on him. Then he turned around. “Whatever. Do what you want. Camp is probably a better place for you to be anyway. I’ll get the prize.”

Sam gritted her teeth and looked at Jason. No idea what she was supposed to do now.

Jason shrugged his shoulders and sighed. “Sheppard’s going to have our asses for this again. Why does Tim have to be such an idiot?”

“It’s my fault. I should have watched where I was going. I tuned out for a second. Sheppard should be used to me screwing up by now.” She gave him a weak grin. Jason chuckled and shook his head.

“Aren’t you afraid of him?”

“Who? Hanson? He’s just an immature idiot with an oversized ego.”

“No. Sheppard.”

Sam kneeled down next to him. The pain in her ankle slowly faded. “No, why? Are you?”

“He’s an intimidating guy. Plus he constantly yells at us. You know he’ll report everything to O’Neill. And in the end, O’Neill gets to make decisions about our future in the resistance.”

“Well.” Sam picked up a stone from the floor and threw it into the trees. “In the end, if he decides I’m not fit enough to meet the requirements, so be it. I’ve been wondering whether I belong here myself.”

Jason leaned forward and gave her shoulder a little nudge with his fist. “Hey, despite what Hanson says, you’re not a bad team member. Just ignore him.”

“Oh please.” Sam smiled. “I just almost broke your leg, so don’t you give me the pep talk now.”

“Touché.” Jason grinned and held out his hand. “Help me up. Let’s see if we can make it to the finish line and salvage at least part of the day.”

Sam pulled him to his feet. He swung his arm across her shoulder and they walked toward the finish line. It shouldn’t be far. They’d been close when she’d stumbled.

Ten minutes later, they reached the small clearing that marked their finish. Hanson and the second group of recruits were already waiting.

Hanson scowled at her, and Sam knew immediately he hadn’t made it first. Served him right for leaving his team members behind. But now he’d take his frustration out on her again.

Hanson folded his arms. “Look who’s finally here.” His voice dripped irony.

“Knock it off, Hanson.” Sam scoffed. Yes, she’d screwed up, but he should have behaved like a responsible team leader and taken Jason back to camp. He’d screwed up at least as badly as she had.

“ _Knock it off_.” He imitated her tone. “We lost. Again. Three guesses who we have to thank for that.”

“I’m sorry.” Sam raised her hands in surrender. “I messed up. Happy?”

“She’s sorry.” He turned to the other recruits. “Well, if she’s sorry.”

“Knock it off, Tim. It’s just training,” Jason snapped and straightened.

“ _Just_ training?” Hanson glared at him. “Apparently, we have different motives for being here. I’m the best at close combat, at strategy, and these field training exercises. To me it’s not _just_ training. I wanna keep my high marks, which won’t happen if I keep getting paired with her.”

“Oh come on, man.” Jason shook his head. “You’re being unreasonable. She tripped. It’s happened to all of us. Besides, I didn’t pay attention, or I wouldn’t have tripped over her. It was a collective failure.”

“Speak for yourself, snakeboy. I’ve never tripped. Why the hell do I always get stuck with the losers?”

Snakeboy. Sam winced. She’d heard Hanson call Jason that a few times, no doubt an insult directed at his tall, slim appearance.

Jason looked unaffected by the insult. “Tim, just stop, okay?”

“I said I’m sorry.” Sam couldn’t keep the impatience out of her voice. Somehow it didn’t seem fair to let Jason fight her battles. Hanson was pissed because of _her_ failure. “Don’t take it out on him.”

“Oh, are a few harsh words too rough for you, Carter? Maybe you should’ve stayed home where you can play with your dolls. You’re not cut out for this, girl.”

“Hanson.” One of the other recruits placed his hand against Hanson’s chest in a subtle warning.

Sam made a step towards him and narrowed her eyes. That was it. She’d had enough of him. “What did you just say?”

“I said go home. Women have no place in combat, least of all in the field. You keep proving that to us.”

“Well, then let me just prove that theory wrong.” Adrenaline raced through her. She marched over to Hanson and slammed her fist into his face. Pain shot through her arm but she ignored it. She’d end this here, once and for all. If this guy needed to resolve issues like a man, she’d be damned if she wasn’t up for it.

Hanson tumbled back, his eyes wide. His nostrils flared. “Oh, you’ll get such a dressing-down now, girl.”

He raced forward and aimed his fist at her face. Sam’s arm shot up, blocking his attack. He slammed into her, sending her to the ground on her back. Morris and two other recruits tried to break them apart by pulling Hanson off of her, but he freed himself.

She rolled aside, when he kicked at her. Bastard. Jumping back up, she glared at him. “That all you can do? Kick somebody when they’re down?”

“Freaking bitch.” He stormed towards her.

 

***

 

Jack raised his eyebrows and looked at Sheppard when they approached the clearing. “Disciplined, you say? That sounds like a brawl to me.”

“I’ll be damned.” Sheppard’s face darkened, and they broke into a run.

“Somebody wanna tell me what’s going on here?” Jack looked at the group of cheering recruits, then at Morris and some of the others who stood helplessly watching.

“Morris, report!” Jack‘s gaze shifted to the group of recruits still engaged in the fight. They were too absorbed in their cheering to notice his presence.

“Sir, there was a minor misunderstanding about who was responsible for the outcome of today’s field training.”

He glared at Jason for a moment. He hated vague reports. “Carter! Hanson!”

The group of bystanders froze on the spot. The recruits turned, paling when they saw their base commander. Carter and Hanson released each other.

Jack flinched inwardly when he looked at their faces. Covered in dirt, both of them had several bruises on their arms and cheeks. Hanson’s lip was bleeding.

“You have exactly five seconds to explain what the hell’s going on, and who started this.”

“She did, sir.” Hanson jabbed a finger at Sam.

Before Jack could respond, angry protest rose from some of the recruits. Carter pounced on the man again. “For crying out loud.”

“He’s lying, sir. He provoked it,” Morris tried to explain, his voice raising over the turmoil in an obvious attempt at defending Carter. 

“Enough.” Jack grabbed Hanson’s arms and shoved him away from Carter. He seized the front of the man’s shirt to prevent him from freeing himself. For a moment Carter looked as though she was about to attack them both. _Oh don’t you dare try that._ “Carter, I swear I’ll have you on sanitary duty for the rest of your life.”

Chest heaving, she dropped her arms and, jaw tight, slowly backed off.

Hanson moved towards her again, but Jack pulled him back roughly. “Hanson, it’s enough.” He let go of the recruit and stepped between the two, careful to keep his eyes on both of them _._ “Correct me if I’m wrong, but you’re a team.”

“Are you a team?” His eyes narrowed.

“Yes, sir.” Ah, so they hadn’t lost the ability to speak. The silence that followed was almost eerie. None of the recruits dared move.

“It’s a start you two remember being on the same team. Since there seems to be confusion about what that means, let’s clear it up: On a team, we don’t beat each other up. And we don’t attack each other.” He looked at Jason. “Morris, who started this? And cut the crap this time.”

Jason shifted from one foot to the other. “Hanson insulted Carter, claiming our team lost because of her, sir. He made a sexist remark, and she punched him. But in all fairness, sir, he made it clear on numerous occasions he thinks women have no place in the field. It was clear he wanted to provoke her.”

“Thank you.” Jack looked from Carter to Hanson, and then his gaze scanned the rest of the group, twelve overall. “Anybody else care to add something to that?”

Again, silence.

“Since you’ve all lost the ability to speak, I’ll assume you agree with Morris’s recollection of the events.” Jack turned to face the two delinquents. Carter stood straight with her chin lifted, her jaw clenched. He stepped up in front of her, forcing her to look into his eyes. She swallowed visibly and remorse flashed across her face. At least she had the decency to stand at attention.

Jack turned. Hanson. He narrowed his eyes and walked over to the young man. Hanson brushed his hand through his hair, the hint of a self-serving smirk around his mouth. No effort to stand at attention at all.

“Carter.” He spun and faced her. “You’ve got exactly thirty seconds to tell me why I shouldn’t put you in confinement for the rest of the week.”

“I-I-I can’t, sir.” She swallowed again. Apparently, she realized how badly she’d just messed up. “It happened just as recruit Morris said.” Voice firm, her stance unchanging. She’d become good at the whole regulation thing. If one ignored this little incident. Which he was increasingly inclined to do, given that she owned up to her mistake.

“You saying that you did deliver the first blow?”

She nodded, her gaze fixating on a point in front of her. “Yes, sir, I did.”

“Anything you wanna say in your defense? Consider your words wisely, recruit, they might determine your future in this cell.” He stalked around her.

“I regret losing my temper, sir. It was immature and stupid.” Her voice became a hint smaller. “I wasn’t thinking.”

“You bet you weren’t,” Jack snapped, his gaze locking on hers. Yeah, definitely remorse. He turned and walked over to Hanson. “Then again, thinking isn’t exactly a woman’s strength, isn’t that right, Hanson?”

“If you say so, sir.” Hanson smirked.

“Wipe that grin off your face, recruit,” Jack shouted in his face. Hanson’s eyes widened, his face paling. “If I ever hear that kind of talk again, I’ll personally throw you out of my camp. Is that clear?”

“Yes, sir.” Hanson’s stance turned rigid.

Jack spun to the rest of the recruits. “This is a resistance camp, not a bar or a kindergarten class. We don’t start brawls, and if brawls happen to start, we don’t encourage them. Is that understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You’re all confined to your tents for the remainder of the day. Carter, Hanson, you two will be on sanitary duty for the rest of the week. I strongly advise you use that time to work out your differences. _Without_ violence. If either of you starts one more fight, I’ll throw you both out for good and I don’t care who starts it.”

“Yes, sir.” Carter and Hanson remained unmoving.

“Dismissed!”

The recruits left the clearing like a pack of beaten dogs. He folded his arms and glared after them. Sheppard stepped up next to him, a glint in his eyes.

“The one day I wanna demonstrate how well-behaved they’ve become, and then this happens.”

Jack ignored his words. “We might have a problem on our hands, Sheppard.”

Sheppard raised his eyebrows. “Come on, Jack, you heard what happened. Can you blame her for punching him? Like you or I wouldn’t have done the same thing. Don’t act like you didn’t start fights when you were a recruit.”

Jack scowled at him. He had. But that was beside the point. “I’m not talking about Carter. I’m talking about Hanson.” He shook his head. “Carter was angry, but she was also remorseful. What she did was stupid, and she realized that. She handled it wrong.” His face darkened. “But Hanson didn’t even bother to stand at attention. He doesn’t have the slightest respect for command structures. And whenever there’s trouble, he’s involved.”

Sheppard nodded. “I admit, he’s ambitious, and those ambitions sometimes get the upper hand.”

Jack scrunched his brows. “He’s not here to satisfy ambitions. All he cares about is winning, even at the cost of his teammates. That’s what worries me.” The resistance didn’t have a need for someone who’d backstab his own teammates or superiors.

“I know what you’re thinking.” Sheppard scratched the back of his neck. “He’s not a team player. That makes him an excellent candidate for solo missions.”

“Not with his disregard for command.” No, that actually made him a dangerous candidate. Candidates for solo missions had to be trusted to obey orders.

“What do you suggest?”

“We’ll wait and see how he behaves during the next coupla weeks. If necessary, I’ll deal with him.”

 

***

 

_3 Days Later_

Sam brushed the back of her hand over her forehead and growled when she smeared more of the soapy foam onto her skin. She sat back on her heels and dumped the brush into the bucket, water splashing everywhere.

There was no way she was gonna be able to finish this all by herself. And she shouldn’t have to. It was Tim’s turn to scrub the bathhouse today. Where was he, anyway?

He’d left a good three hours ago, saying he’d take a quick break outside. Bastard. She reached into the bucket and started scrubbing again. At least it was a great way to let her anger out in a productive way and follow orders at the same time.

When the door behind her opened with a squeak, she turned. Hanson strolled in, his face plastered with a smug grin as he chewed on a bite of a sandwich he held in his hand.

“Where’ve you been?” She wouldn’t even pretend to play nice with him anymore. During the past few days he’d used every excuse to get out of work.

“I told you I was going for a break.” He shrugged and leaned against the wall, looking over the floor. “You missed a spot.”

“Are you kidding me? I’m doing your job here.” Sam threw the brush into the bucket and got up. “You said you were gonna take a short break. That was three hours ago. The sun has set. I even covered for your stupid ass.”

He rolled his eyes. “Relax, will you? Besides, this is women’s work. You’re used to it, and I’m sure you’re doing it a lot better than I would.”

“What?” Sam fisted her hands and inhaled deeply. _Don’t do it, don’t smack him._   That’d had gotten her into this mess in the first place.

“Oh, come on. Don’t get all sensitive now, Carter. I know you’re trying to pull the tough-as-a-man thing here. Some things will always be women’s work, like it or not.” He took another bite of his sandwich.

She should just forget about the rest of her training and smack the grin off his face. That would show this arrogant, self-serving son of a bitch just how tough-as-a-man she could be.

He chuckled again, the sound echoing hollow in the bathroom.

Okay, that was it. She needed to get away from him. Pressing her lips together, she walked towards the door.

“Hey.” He grabbed her wrist as she passed him. Sam narrowed her eyes at his hand, then lifted her gaze to his.

“Let go.”

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“I’m done here.” She gave him a sardonic smile. “Enjoy.” She tried to jerk free but his grip tightened. “Tim. Let go.”

“You’re not going anywhere until the floor is done.” His eyes flashed and Sam lifted her chin.

“You are not in the position to give me orders.”

“Carter.” His face darkened, as he looked her over. “You really have to learn how to be a girl.”

“Screw you.” Her breath hitched when he grabbed her and shoved her against the cold tiled wall so hard her head rattled. “Ugh. What the hell are you—”

His rotten breath filled her nostrils when his mouth bruised hers, his tongue shoving past her teeth. She froze, her hands fisting. Her mind blanked for a moment before she recovered. Hanson squeezed her buttocks, nails digging in.

Sam bucked against him. She wriggled her hand out of his grasp and beat his shoulders. He pinned her to the wall and she shoved his chest. He didn’t budge. She shoved harder.  He tumbled backwards.

Legs trembling, she moved toward the door. “What the hell is the matter with you?” She hated that her voice shook. And she hated that she couldn’t punch him for what he’d done. “You’re out of line.”

Hanson chuckled. “Oh calm down, Carter. You wanted to play with the big boys. Are you telling me you can’t handle it?” He sneered, raking his gaze over her body, his eyebrows cocked up.

She wouldn’t dignify his words with a response. It wouldn’t get her anywhere. She reached for the door handle. 

“Are you gonna run to Sheppard or O’Neill and complain now?”

Sam glared at him.

He shook his head. “You’re so pathetic, Carter. Not that I expected anything else.” He picked up the wet sandwich from the floor and threw it into the garbage. “Go. Run for protection. You’ll never be man enough to handle the resistance, girl.”

Sam tore the door open and stormed out. It was either that or imprinting her fist in the insufferable man’s face. 

Damn it. His foul taste still filled her mouth. She spit into the bushes a few times on her way to her tent. The world blurred as her eyes stung. She pushed the tent flap aside.

“I swear, I’ll kill him. With my bare hands.”

Janet looked up from a book she was reading and Vala halted in painting her toenails.

“Sammie. Where’ve you been?”

“Sanitary duty.” She dropped to her sleeping bag and searched through her pillows. Somewhere she had… There it was. She opened the bottle of water and filled her mouth, then crawled to the exit, gargled, and spit out on the grass.

Janet and Vala stared at her, eyes wide. “What on Earth was that?” Janet’s brows scrunched in concern.

“He uses every opportunity to humiliate me.” She crawled back onto her sleeping bag. “And the worst part is, I can’t punch him for it since we’re on probation and O’Neill would have my ass.”

“Who is she talking about?” Vala looked at Janet, who mouthed “Hanson”. The doctor sat up.

“Maybe you should talk to Sheppard about this, Sam. He’s responsible for your training.” She closed her book and put it aside.

“Oh, no way.” Sam clenched her jaw. “That’ll just give prove to Hanson that he’s right. I don’t need Sheppard or O’Neill to solve my problems. Besides, the colonel said if one more thing happened, he’d throw us both out no matter who started it.” Sam let herself fall back onto the pillows she’d stacked under the head end of her sleeping bag.

“Correct me if I am wrong.” Janet pulled her blanket over her legs. “Aren’t you both on sanitary duty? Shouldn’t there be enough work to keep him busy?”

“There is. But he takes any chance he can to avoid the work. Today he refused to scrub the bathroom because he thinks it’s a women’s job.” She air-quoted the term and closed her eyes. This was a nightmare. “I joined the resistance to contribute to the fight against the Aschen. Instead, I’m scrubbing toilets and washing dirty laundry. If I wanted to do that, I could have just stayed home and become a housewife.”

“Hey.” Janet slid closer. “What kind of talk is that? You’re almost done with your training. Just two more days on sanitary duty, and only four more weeks of training, and you’ll be a full member of the resistance. Then things’ll lighten up.”

Sam sighed. “I’m not sure I’m gonna make it through four more weeks like this. When I think about having Hanson watch my backside all day and making lewd remarks... Just now, he freaking kissed me.”

“Oh my God, Sam.” Janet straightened.

Sam waved her concern off. “It’s no big deal. I usually know how to handle guys like that. At least I used to. Back when I was still allowed to punch people who tried anything stupid.” She made a frustrated sound between clenched teeth and covered her eyes with her palm.

“Sammie, you should report this.” Vala put her nail polish aside.

Janet nodded. “Colonel O’Neill puts respect between camp members above all else.”

“He told us to work out our differences.” Sam sighed. “How do you think it’ll look if I am unable to solve my problems with another recruit without the interference of a superior officer?”

“Well, this isn’t a banality you have to solve on your own,” Janet said. “Things like that don’t usually happen here.”

“It doesn’t matter. To be honest, right now I just want to get away from here. Maybe Hanson is right. I’m not cut out for this.”

She startled to a sitting position when Vala jumped up with a little squeal.

“Sammie, I know what you need. Come on, get up and get dressed.”

“Vala, what are you doing?” Janet released an exasperated sigh.

Vala grinned. “I’m going to take Sammie out. She’s been working her ass off the past seven weeks. She needs a strong drink and a girl’s night out to lift her spirits.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. She’s still a recruit.”

Sam smiled. Her heart sped up at the idea of getting out of camp. “Actually, that does sound good. I’d love to get away from Hanson for a while.”

“Sam.” Janet kneeled closer. “You’re not allowed to leave camp until your training is over. Vala, I can’t believe you’re even proposing this.”

“Screw the rules.” Sam rolled out of bed. All these rules and regulations served to do was humiliate her. “They’re telling me what to do and that I can’t defend myself. But this is my free time and I won’t let Mitchell, O’Neill or Sheppard dictate where I spend it.”

“Yeah.” Vala nodded. “Come on, Janet. She’s practically one of us. In about a month, she’ll be allowed to leave camp as she pleases anyway. Besides, who’s going to know? We’ll sneak out and sneak back in before dawn.”

Janet groaned. “I want nothing to do with this.”

“You’re not going to tell on us, are you?” Vala narrowed her eyes.

Janet shook her head with a sigh. “Of course not. But for the record, I think Sam should go talk to Sheppard instead.”

“Janet, I really need to get out. Just once.” Sam kneeled down in front of her and grabbed her arms. “Please, I feel like I am losing my mind here.”

“Alright. Just leave my name out of it if you get caught.” Janet shrugged and opened her book again.

Sam jumped up. “We’ll be back soon.”

“Uh huh.” The doctor nodded, but she didn’t look pleased. Giggling, Vala grabbed Sam’s arm and they sneaked out of the tent.

 

***

 

With a contented sigh, Vala sat down straddling the trunk of a fallen tree and opened one of the whisky bottles. Thick bushes and trees shielded them from the sandy path that led back up through the forest towards camp.

They’d walked for hours to town and back to buy alcohol. She hadn’t even known there was a town close by, let alone cliffs and the ocean. Where on Earth was she?

Vala apparently knew her way around town. She’d known exactly where to buy alcohol, and she seemed to know the shop owner well, since he’d sold her alcohol at the back door of his shop. The woman clearly had experience breaking the rules.

“Cheers.” Vala lifted the bottle to her lips and took a large gulp. “Oh, this is great. I miss doing this. You know, hanging out at night and getting wasted.”

“I’ve never done this before.” Sam smiled and straddled the trunk next to Vala. She put down the rest of the bottles, and took the open one Vala handed to her. She sniffed it and took a large swig. Her chest constricted as she swallowed and gasped for breath with a shudder. Disgusting!

Grimacing, she handed the whisky back to her friend.

Laughing, Vala took another sip. “You’ll get used to it. Give it a minute, this stuff makes you feel amazing. If you don’t like the taste, just drink faster.” She took another gulp and handed the whisky back to Sam before she let herself fall back to lie on the trunk.

Sam drank again, and this time the brown liquid went down her throat easier, leaving her with a pleasant warming sensation. Okay, maybe Vala was right.

They took turns for a while. It wasn’t long before the whisky bottle was empty and Sam’s spirits began to lift. Who cared for camp or Hanson? Why had she even worried about that in the first place?

“You know, you’re really fun.” She grinned at Vala.

“So are you. Really.”

Sam opened the next bottle. Vodka. Clear liquid like water. “You never told me where you’re from.”

“Little town.” Vala closed her eyes. “Not many inhabitants, but all of them criminal.”

“Are your parents still alive?” Sam lifted the bottle to her lips and took a careful sip. She flinched when the alcohol burned her throat.

“No. Well, maybe. I don’t care. My father sold me to a slave-trader when I was ten, so I don’t think he cares, either.”

She almost dropped the bottle, staring at the other woman.

Vala shrugged. “It was common practice in our town.”

“Where the hell are you from?” She handed the vodka over to Vala, who took another big swallow before she answered.

“I don’t think I can tell you that. It’s classified since you’re still a recruit.” She smiled before she mouthed ‘sorry’.

“How long have you been a member of the resistance?” Sam took another drink. The alcohol wasn’t even that bad anymore. Almost went down like water, and it made her so deliciously lightheaded.

“A few years.” Vala swayed slightly. “I think it’ll be three sometime around polar night.”

Polar night? Sam straightened and lifted her eyebrows. The next moment the question she’d been meaning to ask vanished from her mind. “Do you regret joining?”

“No, not at all.” Vala grinned. “I mean look at our lives. We have a roof above our head—well, a tent,—regular meals, people we can rely on. This is paradise compared to what I had before.”

“What did you do before?”

“I was a smuggler. And a thief. A robber. A cheat. Whatever the situation required.” Vala leaned down and picked up another bottle. She almost lost balance, but managed to prevent herself from tumbling headfirst to the forest floor. “I didn’t have any friends back then. As a criminal, you have to be careful who you call friend. Most of those you know are criminals themselves and they’ll rat you out in a heartbeat if it saves their own neck.” She paused to drink from the bottle again, and leaned back on the tree. “Now I have a home, and friends, and I don’t have to steal to get by. And I’m doing something that’s morally right. Well, most of the time.” She studied Sam. “Do you regret joining the resistance?”

“Well.” Sam flinched. “I had my doubts about joining in the past weeks.”

“Because of the harassment?” Vala threw a chocolate bar at her and Sam tried catching it, but missed. She had to lean down to pick it up from the forest floor. The trees spun when she sat back up.

She pressed a hand against her belly as her stomach turned. “No, not because of that. I am kinda used to guys behaving like jerks. Just that before I wasn’t banned from hitting them if they touched me inappropriately.”

“Then what?”

“I left home to lead a free, self-sufficient life. And now all I do all day is take orders and… well, scrub toilets. Expectations are so high, I can barely live up to them. I’m not sure this is what I wanted.” She sighed, and almost automatically took the bottle that Vala handed over. She really shouldn’t drink anymore. The world around her was spinning already. _Ah, well. Who cares?_

“Wait until you are done with training. They’ll ease up on you once you’re a full member and have been assigned to a Cell. I heard rumors that O’Neill wants to keep you in our Cell. Nobody will care for ranks anymore then. Technically, Daniel outranks me. So does Janet.”

“Really?” Sam’s eyes widened. “I didn’t know that.”

Vala nodded. “Ranks are only important if you’re a colonel or a recruit.” Vala nudged her, which almost caused both of them to fall off the trunk. They giggled, and Vala wrapped an arm around Sam and placed her head on her shoulder. “I can’t wait to work with you.”

Sam looked at the top of her head and sighed. Somehow, during the past couple of months she’d grown fond of Vala. And Janet. Warmth spread through her. It was nice to be with a friend for a change.

The dark-haired woman jumped up unexpectedly and grabbed another bottle from next to the tree trunk. “Come on, have some more vodka. We need to drink all of this. With every sip, repeat after me. _I can do it_.”

Sam laughed. She opened her mouth when Vala pressed the bottle against her lips, and then took another large slug.

After a while, Vala came up with the idea to play a game of poker with the cards she always carried in her pocket. Just in case they were on a boring mission, she explained with a mild slur in her voice. Once Sam understood the basic rules, they turned their game into a drinking game. Whoever lost had to take a sip of vodka.

Time passed. By the time dawn broke through the crowns of fir trees, they were both wasted and giggling uncontrollably. Neither of them made a move to return to camp.

Sam didn’t care. So what if somebody missed her at camp? She had a combat lesson scheduled with Mitchell first thing in the morning. He’d have to find someone else to teach today. 

She’d lost all sense of time when two camp-soldiers came walking towards them from the path.

“Vala.” The taller soldier buried his hands in his pockets. Vala tried to get up but stumbled and fell against him.

“Heeey.” She gave them a wide grin. “Where did you come from?”

“We’re getting the week’s ration of bread from town. We heard your laughter up here and figured we’d check out who was hanging around this close to camp. What are you doing out here this early?” When his eyes narrowed, Vala smiled giddily. “Have you been drinking?”

“No.” She swayed. Sam lowered her head and stifled a giggle. “Maybe just a little.”

“Who’s that?”

“Hey guys.” Sam held up the cards. “Wanna play poker with us?”

“Oh, great idea!” Vala clapped her hands and ran back over to the trunk, where she almost stumbled over a bottle. “Come on, boys. Poker’s more fun if we have four people.”

“Sorry, we’re on duty.” The men’s gazes shifted from Vala to Sam, and back to Vala.

“Oh come on, guys, don’t be such bores. We’ll make it strip poker.” Vala wriggled her eyebrows.

Sam put the cards down. “Vala.”

She got up and had trouble keeping her balance on the uneven forest floor. When had the Earth become so unstable? Something had to be wrong with gravity.

“Come on, Sammie.”

“I’m not undressing in a poker game.” She swayed and managed to grab the trunk before she fell over backwards. She reached for the bottle of vodka. 

“Siler.” The smaller soldier leaned in to his tall teammate. “Isn’t that the female recruit?”

Vala scoffed and folded her arms. “Who? Oh please. Like I’d be out here with a recruit at this time of night. That’s against the rules.”

The two soldiers paid no attention to her. Siler trudged towards Sam and grabbed her shoulders. She held his gaze and smiled. “I think you’re right, Stevens. She’s the recruit.”

“Oh come on, guys.” Vala tried to intervene when Siler pulled her up. Sam was too tired to resist. Serious nausea began to spread through her stomach.

Vala stumbled against Siler. “We’re just having a bit of fun. Can’t you just, you know, forget that you saw us?”

“You know she’s not allowed to leave camp. Were you two down in town?” Stevens placed his hands on Vala’s shoulder and held her at arm’s length.

“No.”

Sam giggled. Yeah, the expression on Vala’s face gave it away again. Damn, and she thought _she_ was a bad liar.

Stevens rolled his eyes. “Alright, that’s it. We’re taking you two back.” He grabbed Vala’s arm.

“Wait.” Vala wriggled out of his grip and stumbled to the tree trunk. She collected her poker cards and reached for the half-emptied bottle of vodka. Stevens steadied her.

Vala turned in his grip and lifted the bottle to her mouth. She looked at the soldier from under her lashes. “You’re cute.”

He took the bottle out of her hand and threw it into the forest. It shattered somewhere against a tree, the sound echoing. “I think you’ve had enough.”

“What are we supposed to do with them?” Siler gave Stevens a helpless look.

Sam lifted her head. She hadn’t even realized she’d closed her eyes. Bad idea to open them. The world started spinning again, and nausea swam in. Oh God, she was going to die. 

“We’ll take them to the colonel. This is a major breach of security, and I don’t wanna get in trouble for trying to cover it up.”


	10. Believe Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the new version of "Stargate Aschen", completely revised style-wise. 
> 
> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> Also, this version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

Jack rose from his chair when Siler and Stevens entered his tent pulling two completely wasted and giggling women with them. Carter and Mal Doran. He raised his eyebrows.

“What’s going on?”

“Sir.” Siler straightened. “We found them in the forest, drinking.”

Jack’s face darkened and he dropped his pen. The forest. Carter knew she wasn’t allowed to leave camp. This was a serious breach of security. On top of that, she was on probation. “Did they go to town?”

“Judging from Mal Doran’s expression when she said no, we assume they did. They had alcohol from the liquor store.”

“Lies.” Mal Doran took a step forward and stumbled over the edge of one of the wooden boxes holding files.  Carter reached out to steady her, but lost her balance as well. The two women tumbled to the floor. They rolled over on their backs and broke into a fit of laughter.

 “Oh fer cryin out loud.” Jack rubbed his temples. This was ridiculous. The situation might have amused him had Carter not been a recruit and disobeyed a direct order. Again.

He folded his arms and glared at the women, who managed to get back on their feet with Siler and Stevens’s help. They still giggled whenever they looked at each other.

“Carter, Mal Doran.” Jack slammed his palms on the desk. Both women jumped to attention—or at least they tried, before they both swayed. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“We’re having fun.” Carter beamed at him. Her little hiccup would have been endearing under different circumstances.

Jack narrowed his eyes when Vala stifled another giggle. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with two drunken soldiers this early in the morning.

“Carter.”

Carter’s eyes widened. “S-sir?”

“You were under explicit orders not to leave camp.” He pinned her with a glare. She held his gaze. So she wasn’t even gonna respond? He growled. “Don’t you have anything to say in your defense?”

“S-screw the rules, s-sir. I’m done with them.”

She… what? He scanned her face in bewilderment. She still swayed, but the determination in her blue eyes was startling. Not many people had ever dared to speak to him that way to his face.

“Yeah.” Vala folded her arms. “Screw them. We’re starting a revolt.”

Jack shifted his gaze to Mal Doran. This was beginning to feel like mutiny. Before he could say anything though, Carter turned to face the other woman.

“Wait, what?” She stumbled against Vala again. “Who s-said anything about a revolt?”

“It just has a nice ring to it. R-r-revolt.” Vala shrugged.

Jack walked around his desk and inhaled deeply, forcing himself to remain calm. Yelling would be useless. As wasted as the two were, they would remember very little once they sobered. “You two are completely out of line.”

“Out of line?” Vala glared at him, her speech slurring. She took a step towards him and almost stumbled again. “No, y-you are out of line. Do you even know what you’re doing? Why won’t you let Sammie beat up a guy who sexually harasses her? That, mister, is so out of line.” She tried to hit Jack’s chest but failed and instead nearly fell against him. Jack hurried to steady her before she hit the floor. If they kept stumbling around like this, they were gonna destroy his command tent.

“She’s a nice girl.” Vala ranted on. Jack raised his eyebrows. “Why do you do that to her? What did she do to you?”

“Vala.” Carter took a step towards them and grabbed Vala’s arm. She tripped and Jack half expected her to fall all over his desk, but she caught herself. “S-stop. What the hell are you doing?” She gave Vala a pitiful glare.

Okay so at least somebody still had some sense left in them. Kinda. Carter looked up at him. She stood so close. He swallowed hard. Her breath smelled faintly of alcohol, and her hands came to rest on his chest as he steadied her.

She held his gaze for a long moment, then a faint smile touched her lips. “You smell good.”

Jack coughed. Had he heard right? Her fingers tangled in the material of his shirt. He grabbed her wrists. “Carter.”

“Has anybody ever told you, you’re handsome?”

Siler and Stevens lowered their heads, and he caught sight of two grins. Jack clenched his jaw and glared at the young woman. Without effect. Apparently oblivious to their company, Carter beamed at him. Then her gaze dropped to his mouth, and her fingers relaxed. Her head tipped forward ever so slightly. What the hell was she…?

Whoa. Jack grabbed her shoulders to hold her in place. She was completely wasted. “Focus, Carter.” If Vala’s accusation hadn’t been so severe, and the entire situation a breach of protocol, this might have been funny.

“Yes, sir.” Again, that smile. His pulse raced. Definitely focusing on the wrong thing here.

“Carter. Is it true? Somebody harassed you?”

“It is.” Vala stepped in.

“I was asking her, not you, Mal Doran.” Jack fixated Carter with his gaze, and she swallowed visibly, then lowered her eyes. Her demeanor changed, and she took a step back, her arms wrapped around her body.

“It’s nothing, sir.”

Vala snorted. Jack's face darkened and he turned to walk back to his chair. “I don’t have time to get involved in your practical jokes.”

“It’s not a joke.” Vala stumbled to his desk and slammed her palms down. Some files hit the floor.

Jack scowled at her. “Mal Doran.”

“He kissed her, and he harasses her every chance he gets. She thinks about leaving the resistance, did you know that?”

Jack studied her. He’d never seen Mal Doran that determined. When she was drunk she usually hit on every guy she came across, and that was all she cared about. Something about the underlying graveness in her voice alarmed him. Carter grabbed her friend’s arm.

“Vala. Don’t.” Why was Carter being so defensive? What the hell was going on?

“What, so he can do it again?” Vala turned to her, her eyes flaring up. “You gonna just take it without doing anything?”

“I said shut up.” Sam shoved Vala’s shoulders. The force of it made her lose balance and before she could catch herself, Sam stumbled against the other woman. They both crashed against a few boxes on the floor, looked at each other wide-eyed for a moment, and then started giggling again.

Jack rubbed his temples. _Enough._ “For crying out loud. Get those two into confinement to sober up. Separate barracks.” Talking to them would be useless until the alcohol was out of their system.

Siler and Stevens hurried to comply, and escorted the two women out of his command tent.

Sighing, Jack sunk down into his chair. What the hell was the matter with Carter? This was another one in a series of recent slip-ups he couldn’t let pass. Not only had she defied an order, her behavior posed a threat to security. And she hadn’t even cared.

He picked up a pen and tapped it on the paper while he fixated on some random point in the room. Hopefully, Vala’s accusations had been a drunken joke. Carter’s reaction to it had been odd though. Defensive. Evasive.

Come to think of it she’d changed a lot during the past few weeks. She’d become distant, and she’d made mistakes that were unusual. He hadn’t noticed because she’d managed to make up for them every time, but now that he thought about it…

Just four days ago she’d stepped into one of the traps they’d set in the training course. It had been a simple task, and she should have easily avoided it, but her focus was a million miles away. Only when she’d ended up hanging from a tree in a net had she regained her focus. She’d surprised Sheppard, and him, when she’d freed herself by studying the mechanism of the trap and disabling it.

That day, she’d completed the training course last. But she’d made it to the finish line. Her way of thinking was unique, and he’d never seen another recruit that agile before.

Something was definitely going on with her.

He couldn’t shed the niggling feeling that Vala’s accusation might be right. His pulse sped up, his grip tightening on the pen. Once she had sobered, he would have to talk to her.

 

***

 

Sam groaned when the wooden door opened with a soft squeak on metal hinges. Sunlight leaked into the small cell that was barely big enough to hold a bed. She covered her eyes against the brightness and sat up.

“Oh, God.” Her memory slowly returned. Blinking, she recognized the silhouette of a man in the doorway.  Colonel O’Neill. Oh boy, was she in trouble.

“Sir.” She stumbled to her feet to stand at attention and flinched at her stinging headache. Yeah, abrupt movements were definitely a bad idea.

“Ah.” O’Neill pulled the door closed, whether it was to shield her from the light or to have privacy, she wasn’t sure. “So you have at least regained some sense of respect.”

Sam closed her eyes. More details started to come back to her. Oh God, she’d told him to screw the rules. Worse, she’d hit on him. Her cheeks burned. “I don’t know what to say. I-I’m really sorry, sir.”

“For the insubordination, or the disobedience?” Her head snapped up at his tone. At least he couldn’t her embarrassment in the dimness of the cell. “What the hell was that, Carter? You know the rules.”

He didn’t even bother yelling at her. Probably not a good sign. Maybe he’d concluded she was a lost cause anyway. Her throat constricted. “Yes, sir.”

“Are you trying to make me throw you out? Are you deliberately testing how far you can go? Or is this all just a joke to you? Tell me if it is, and I won’t even waste my time with you anymore, recruit.” He stepped up into her personal space, his gaze never leaving her face.

“No sir.” Her voice trembled.

“No sir, what?” His gaze intensified. Warmth radiated from his body and his scent made her head swim.

“No, sir, this isn’t a joke to me.” She swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. Waves of heat rushed through her, as her skin tingled with awareness of his proximity. What would it feel like to have his hands run across her skin? Painful need shot through her and she straightened in shock. This had to be the alcohol lingering in her blood. What was the matter with her?

He was angry at her. This was hardly the time to indulge in feelings of attraction to him. Not that there was ever an appropriate time for that.

“Why did you sneak out? You’re lucky Mal Doran was with you, or I’d have interrogated you already as a potential traitor. You know you’re not allowed to leave camp.”

She bit her lower lip, and held his gaze. “Permission to speak freely, sir?”

“Go ahead.” He stepped back and the tension left her body.

“I’m not sure I should be here, sir.” Her voice shook.

O’Neill folded his arms and raised his eyebrows. “What do you expect, Carter? You broke the rules. Confinement’s standard protocol.”

“That’s not what I meant, sir.” Sam took a deep breath. “I mean here at camp.”

His face remained blank as he scrutinized her. She lowered her eyes and waited. Finally, he walked over to the uncomfortable little pallet standing against one of the walls of the tiny cell, and sat down.

“Care to explain why?”

“It’s just…” She swallowed hard. “I can’t help thinking it was a foolish idea of me to join the resistance. I’m not cut out for this.”

The long moment of silence that followed made her fidget. She scratched the skin of her arm.

O’Neill’s gaze remained fixated on her. “Doesn’t sound like the woman who walked into a bar full of slave traders to find a resistance contact.”

The gentleness in his voice threw her off. She shifted her eyes to his. “Maybe she realized how stupid that was. That the bartender was right and she’s in way over her head.”

“Ah.” He leaned back and surprised her with a smirk. “It was a little reckless, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Sam smiled weakly.

“Only because she did it without having backup, though.”

Her gaze shot to his. “I think I’m better off alone.”

He folded his arms and shook his head. “Carter.” With a sigh he leaned forward to rest his elbows on his thighs. “Nobody’s better off alone, especially not on the streets. You got people to watch your back here, you know?”

Did she? She hugged herself with her arms. During the past few weeks, she’d begun to feel pretty damn alone. Sure, there was Jason, and they got along well. But somehow, she couldn’t shed the feeling he was only sticking with her because he felt sorry for her. Most of the others seemed to share Hanson’s opinion that she didn’t have a place in the field—judging by their quiet acceptance of Hanson’s behavior.

Not that she needed any of them to protect or defend her. She lifted her chin. No, she could do fine on her own.

“Sam.” He drawled her name and she swallowed hard. “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”

She averted her gaze and looked at the walls and the door. “Nothing, sir.”

He didn’t back down. “Are you being harassed?”

She shifted uncomfortably and rubbed her upper arms. His bluntness came unexpected. She’d hoped he’d take Vala’s statement for a drunken joke. “This isn’t really about that.”

“Oh, but it is.” His tone was nearly a snap, and she flinched. “At the very least, it’s the only reason I’m giving you the benefit of a doubt, and haven’t kicked your ass out already. Damn it, Carter.” He got up and paced two steps to the wall, then back. “This is not just your problem. As camp leader I’m responsible for what happens to my people. If there’s someone here who turns against us, I gotta know. Do you wanna be stuck on a mission with someone like that someday?”

Her resolve weakened. He was right. She hadn’t considered Hanson might act like this again in the future. Maybe not towards Vala or Janet—they were too high-ranking already. What if they got another female recruit, though?

She sighed and dropped her arms.

O’Neill’s face hardened. “Spill it.”

“There might have been a minor incident.”

“Define minor.” He sat back down, his tone gentling.

“It’s nothing, really. I know he just did it to push my buttons. And it just showed me that I don’t belong—“

“Carter. What happened?”

She closed her eyes, her cheeks burning. Thank God the dimness of the room provided her with a little privacy to hide her emotions. “He kissed me. It’s nothing I can’t handle, sir, but I’m on probation. I couldn’t really defend myself without it looking as though I’d started another brawl. And there was no witness, so...” She shook her head and released her breath.

“God.” O’Neill rubbed his hands over his face. “When I put you on probation, it didn’t mean you were supposed to take harassment.”

Her head jerked up and she met his gaze. He believed her? She’d half-expected him to discard her story.

“Who did it?”

She had a feeling he wouldn’t leave until she told him what he wanted to know. “Hanson.”

Another groan from him.

“Sorry, sir.” Her eyes stung and she swallowed hard.

“ _You’re_ sorry?” He shook his head. “I’m the one who has to apologize to you. That shouldn’t have happened. It’s my responsibility to evaluate people’s characters.”

She pressed her lips together. Something about his reaction warmed her heart. It wasn’t his fault. “I didn’t see it coming.” She sat down next to him and blew out a soft breath. “I should have, though. I’ve seen that look so many times, but when it happened with him… I didn’t… I wasn’t prepared for it. My guard was down.”

O’Neill turned his head. “In my book that’s not something a woman should need to prepare for. Especially not in my camp.”

They both became silent.

“Sam…”

She turned her head at the intimate edge to his voice.

“If there are problems like this, I need to know about it. Next time, write a report if you feel uncomfortable talking about it. Otherwise I can’t do my job.”

“Okay.” She nodded and looked down at her hands.

“And for the record, harassment doesn’t qualify as trying to push a teammate’s buttons. Or as a prank.” She wouldn’t look at him and he sighed. “Next time, talk to me instead of breaking the rules.”

“To be honest, sir, it wasn’t just about that.” She bit her lower lip, and groped for words. “When I decided to seek out the resistance, I didn’t think it would be this hard. I barely pass the exercises and I keep messing up. I’m in way over my head and I misjudged my ability to handle the stress.”

Confusion flashed across O’Neill’s face as he studied her. “I see. I’m sorry to hear that. During training, some people realize they can’t handle the mental stress. Gotta say, hearing it from you disappoints me a little.”

“Sorry, sir.”

“If that’s how you feel, I can arrange for you to drop out. As I said, though, no second chances.”

Sam looked at him, taken aback by his words. He made it sound so simple. Somehow it felt a lot more complex to her. Where was she supposed to go if she left? Returning home to her father wasn’t an option. Neither was living on the streets as she’d done before.

All that had kept her going was the idea of finding the resistance and fighting the Aschen. If that was gone… “I don’t know how I feel, sir.”

O’Neill’s face hardened. “Well, I don’t need people who lack confidence in their own abilities.”

Her eyes widened. Was he throwing her out?

“I don’t do pep talks during training, Carter. If you feel that you’re not up to the task, leave. This might sound harsh to you, but my job here isn’t to convince people they can do it. I kinda expect that conviction as a start-out requirement. I know the woman I met at the ‘Forest Elf’ did have that. So what the hell changed?”

His gaze rested on her for a moment, and when she didn’t reply, he went on.

“To be honest, it’ll get a lot harder than this. If you feel training’s too much for you to handle, then frankly, I don’t think you’ll be able to make it in the field.” His voice gentled. “There’s no shame in that. Not everybody’s cut out to work in the resistance.”

Her fingers clenched her shirt. Throat tight, she lowered her head with a nod.

“Sam… I don’t mean to be cruel, but this is a resistance camp. We’re training you to fight the Aschen on potentially dangerous missions. Sugarcoating it by pretending things are going to get easier wouldn’t be fair to you.”

“I understand, sir. I appreciate the honesty.” She lifted her head when she was certain the burning in her eyes had stopped. He was right.

“If you want out, all you gotta do is tell me.” He got up and crossed the room. “Sleep on it and clear your head. A hangover isn’t the right moment to make a decision like that.”

“Yes, sir.” Sam nodded.

“I’m putting you under arrest until tomorrow morning, but I’ll send Janet in to give you some pills to help against the hangover. You got enough time, so sleep it off. I promise, Hanson’s not gonna be a problem for you anymore. I’ll handle the situation.”

“Yes, sir.” She gave him a shaky smile, not sure whether to believe him. If he talked to Hanson, or gave him a speech, Hanson certainly would take his anger out on her. She shouldn’t have said anything.

“You can tell me your decision after tomorrow morning’s recruit briefing. By then I have decided how to handle your breach of security. Maybe I’ll throw you out myself for blatant disregard of regulations.”

Was that a twinkle of amusement in his eyes? She wasn’t sure. His voice sounded serious enough.

“Yes, sir. For what it’s worth, I didn’t sneak out to break the rules. Vala was just being a friend when I wanted to get away.”

“Noted, recruit. I’ll see you tomorrow at the briefing.”

 

***

 

_Next morning_

“Good morning, people.” John Sheppard marched toward the group of recruits. It was six am in the morning, but the dark-haired soldier didn’t seem to mind the early hour at all.

Sam suppressed a little yawn. The aspirin Janet had provided her with did little more than dull the pain of her hangover. Never, ever would she get that drunk again.

“At ease.”

Sam relaxed her stance. O’Neill joined Sheppard in the front, carrying a few papers and a folder in his hand.

“I see most of you are thrilled at another day of field training with me.” Sheppard gave a cheerful smile. “But before I brief you on today’s training mission and divide you into teams, there are a few matters that need to be addressed.”

He took a sheet of paper from O’Neill and paced up and down in front of them. “It seems that, during the past week, discipline got a little lax with some of you. Things happened that we can’t tolerate. We won’t go into details here, but I believe the people in question know who I am talking about.”

Sam shrunk down, her cheeks burning. It didn’t take a genius to realize they were referring to her and her little tour to town with Vala. She knew the news had made its rounds. Damn this camp for being so small where rumors and gossip were concerned.

“Let me take this moment to clear a few things up.” Sheppard straightened and his face became serious. “The rules aren’t in place to make your lives hard, but to protect all of us. Any time one of you breaks them, you are not only putting yourselves in danger, but also the rest of us. From now on, any deviation from the rules will be punished by exclusion from training. You all know what that means. No training, no admittance into the resistance.”

His gaze passed over the group of recruits. Then he lifted the piece of paper.

“Among the most important rules are: You are, under no circumstances, allowed to leave camp, not even with another member of the resistance, unless explicitly ordered to do so by a person carrying the rank of colonel.” He raised his eyebrows. “That’s either Colonel O’Neill, Colonel Mitchell, or myself. Furthermore, from today there’ll be a curfew in place. You’ll all be in your tents by ten at night. You’ll speak respectfully to your fellow recruits without starting brawls, and you will follow given orders to the letter. Is that understood?”

“Yes, sir,” the group of recruits replied in unison.

“Well, that’s a start.” Sheppard folded his arms. “Unfortunately, for one of you, this eagerness to follow rules comes too late.”

Sam froze. Her heart pounded in her ears when O’Neill’s gaze locked with hers. He hadn’t been kidding. They were going to throw her out. Blood drained from her face. Well, he’d said he hadn’t made a decision about what to do with her yet.

And after she’d told him yesterday how overwhelmed she was, she should be relieved that he and Sheppard made the choice for her. The emptiness inside her surprised her. Her throat sore, she rubbed her palms over her pants. _No, no, no. Please no._ She needed to be part of the resistance, no matter what the cost. She’d grow stronger if needed. She could be better. _Just one last chance._

“Hanson, please step forward.” Sheppard’s voice and the resulting murmur that went through the recruits drew her back to reality.

Hanson took a hesitant step forward, looking confused.

Sheppard eyed him coldly. “Pack up your things, you’re out.”

“Sir?” The young man raised his eyebrows. “I have exemplary training results.”

“So you do.” Sheppard nodded. “It’s not just fighting skills we’re looking for, though. All things considered, you don’t meet the requirements.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Hanson fisted his hands. “You can’t do that. You have no grounds to—“

“Shut up, Hanson.” O’Neill’s eyes blazed. “You’re lucky we’re giving you the easy out.”

Sheppard remained unmoving. “He voted for shooting you. I argued it’d be a bit drastic.”

Okay, that had to be a joke. Certainly O’Neill wouldn’t have… Her gaze found the camp commander’s, and she saw a glint in his eyes. Thank God.

Hanson was apparently unimpressed. “I don’t get this. I’m better than all of them. You said you reviewed the records. Is this about my failures in field training? Because let me tell you—”

Sheppard’s face hardened. “This matter is neither open for discussion, nor negotiation. You excelled at the cost of your teammates.” He turned to the rest of the group. “Let me make something clear to all of you. If you think you can backstab your teammates, or stand out and try to be the best at the cost of others, please step forward now. It saves us the trouble of having to filter you out.”

Deadly silence followed.

“Stewart, please escort Hanson to his tent and see that he packs up his stuff.” Sheppard looked at Hanson. “You’ll be sedated and escorted back to where you were recruited. From there you’re free to do whatever you want. Don’t make any attempts to contact the resistance again.”

Sam held her breath as Stewart escorted Hanson away. This was unbelievable. Instead of throwing her out, they’d thrown Hanson out. Despite his high marks and exemplary records.

“Now, may I have your attention for today’s mission briefing?” Sheppard’s loud voice drew the attention of the recruits back to the purpose of the gathering.

Sam only partly listened. She’d be on sanitary duty for another day anyway, so no mission for her. Mild guilt rose in her. Hanson had been kicked out because of what she’d told O’Neill. Yes, Hanson had been an idiot, but...

On the other hand, nobody would harass her anymore. Nobody would pick on her every flaw, or wait for her to make a mistake only to publicly humiliate her. An entire mountain range lifted from her chest at the realization.

“Carter!”

Sam jumped to attention and lifted her head to look at Sheppard.

“Yes, sir?”

Sheppard smirked. “Daydreaming, were you? Well, you better wake up, you’re on team D today. I suggest you pay attention to the mission briefing.”

Sam smiled brightly. “Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.”

She was on a team. No more sanitary duty. They’d suspended her sentence?

After the briefing was over, Sheppard got up from the box he’d sat on. “Alright. Let’s head over to the training grounds, and I’ll all hand you your mission sheets. Not you, Carter. You report to the colonel first, and join us later on. I’ll have Morris brief you on your mission.”

“Yes, sir.” She nodded and remained standing in place as the rest of the group moved out. Then she walked up to her camp commander.

O’Neill studied her, long and intense. “In light of what happened, we all agreed to suspend your punishment. You can partly thank Mal Doran for that. She spent the entire day yesterday getting on my nerves about talking you into the little drinking adventure.”

She shook her head. “She didn’t talk me into—”

“Carter.” He raised his eyebrows, a glint in his eyes. “I don’t wanna hear it. You’re both lucky she’s a full member of the resistance. She got reprimanded, and was in confinement until she sobered up. I’ll refrain from taking further action, though.”

“Yes, sir.” Sam gave him a warm smile. “Thank you, sir.”

“Don’t thank me yet, Carter. You’ll be under strict supervision from now on. One more act of insubordination, and you’re out, understood?”

Sam gave a quick nod. “Yes, sir.”

O’Neill’s expression gentled. “That’s, if you’ve decided to stay with us?”

“Yes, sir. I have. I really want to go through with this training.”

He folded his arms and sat down on the edge of the wooden box that Sheppard had used before. “Oh?”

“I know I can do it, sir. I don’t want to leave. I promise, from now on there’ll be no more slip-ups.” His scrutinizing stare made her fidget, hands behind her back. She cleared her throat. “I’ll have to work on myself, and I know it’s probably not gonna be easy, sir. But it can’t be harder than walking into a bar of slave traders, right?”

A smirk tugged at his lips. “Right.” He picked up the file lying next to him and held it up. “I reviewed your training files. Both Sheppard and Mitchell think you have potential to become a promising member of the resistance, provided you get a grip and stop going against the rules. I concur. You got guts and brains. And you have perseverance enough to get back on your feet when you’re down. Don’t throw that potential away.”

Sam’s eyes widened. Sheppard—and even Mitchell—had said that? She gave him a cheeky smile. “I thought you didn’t do pep talks, sir.”

“Yeah, well.” He shrugged. “There’s an exception to every rule.” Then a throat clearing. “Don’t use that as an excuse to go against the rules.”

She couldn’t help a soft laugh and bit her lower lip in an attempt to stifle it, when he folded his arms. “Sorry, sir. I won’t.”

“Don’t make me regret giving you this last chance.”

“I won’t, sir.” She straightened.

“No, you won’t.” His lips broke into a warm smile and her heart skipped a beat. “Report to your team, recruit.”

“Yes, sir.”


	11. Briefings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the new version of "Stargate Aschen", completely revised style-wise. 
> 
> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> Also, this version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

_4 weeks later_

Sam inhaled the crisp morning air and stretched with a yawn. The first light of dawn reflected in the drops of dew that clung to the grass from the previous night’s frost. Today was the day. The start of a new life. She’d made it.

Balancing a cup of coffee in one hand, she looked at the label of the sandwich the kitchen aid had given her. Ham. She sighed. When would Janet take her off the alternate nutrients plan?

She pulled the tent flap aside and entered. Four of the remaining eleven recruits had already arrived. She nodded to them when they greeted her. Everybody still looked sleepy. Nobody liked these morning briefings, especially if they went on until the afternoon. Hopefully this one was her last briefing as a recruit.

She’d finished her last training exercise the previous day, passing all the tests with a decent mark. That made her eligible for assignment to a post within the resistance. At last, three months of training were finally ending.

One after another, the rest of the recruits filled the tent. Only eleven of them left. Aside from Hanson, who’d been kicked out, seven others had decided to leave training.

Sam smiled at Jason Morris as he took a seat next to her. "Don’t you look awake."

Jason nudged her. "Have you looked in the mirror, Miss Tousled?” He chuckled when she ran her hand through her hair and smacked his arm. His eyes shifted to the bag in her lap. “That wouldn’t happen to be a ham sandwich, would it?"

She smiled. "Trade you if you have a turkey one."

He held out his bag and they switched sandwiches. It had become somewhat of a ritual between them to trade sandwiches. Though she was still on an alternate nutrients plan, she didn’t care for the heavy meat sandwiches Janet ordered her to eat.

"Good morning, recruits." O’Neill entered the tent, and walked past the wooden benches they sat on.

They stumbled to their feet and straightened. "Good morning, sir." It had become such an automated reaction, she didn't even think about it anymore. ~~~~

"At ease, sit down." O’Neill placed some files and rolled up posters on the table in the front.

“During the past three months, you’ve all learned basic skills that enable you to survive our resistance operations. As of today, you’re all considered full members of the resistance." He smirked. “That means no more curfews, no more restrictions.”

Loud cheering filled the tent. O’Neill allowed them a moment before he cleared his throat.

"You know I don't like speeches, so I'm gonna cut it short. I hereby announce your official promotions to ensigns. Welcome to the organization. We looked through your training records to determine the ideal field of work for each of you according to your character and skills. Some of you’ll leave us today to join other cells and continue work there.”

Sam looked at Jason. Would they be assigned to the same cell? Or would she never see him again?

“During the course of today's briefings, you’ll learn about your respective cell's operations, the history behind them, and what your tasks will be. In the evening, you’ll have the opportunity to say goodbye to friends who got assigned to other cells. But please don’t discuss any of the information you’ve learned during your briefings.”

He sat down on one of the wooden boxes that served as chairs.

“As y’all know our beloved friend Daniel here—" He gestured at Daniel who entered at that moment, his eyes still small from sleep. "—is famous for his insightful and _not at all boring_ lectures that will wake you all right up."

Sam had to lower her head and stifle a smile. Dr. Jackson was famous for his drawn-out lectures. Daniel shot his friend an ironic look.

"Thanks, Jack."

"You're most welcome. So, Daniel here will take care of all the organizational stuff. You know how much I hate doing those things."

Daniel put a cup of coffee down on the table and cleared his throat.

"Alright." He pushed his glasses further onto his nose and looked through his notes. "Let me just dive right into this. Some of you have suspected there's more to the resistance than just this group. At the moment, you’re staying at the basic training camp operated by resistance Cell 4. Resistance Cell 4 is one of twenty-one cells spread all over the world.”

All over the world? Exactly how big was the resistance? How had she’d looked for weeks before finding any sign of them?

“Each cell has its own specialty or region it operates in. Due to the sensitive nature of our operations, locations of each cell's base will be kept secret.” He looked up. “That means, members of different cells aren’t allowed to have contact with each other.”

He paused for a moment, and went through his notes.

"Your briefings will vary depending on your cell. Reyes, Millowitz, Wong, Stewart, Longfellow and Niles." He looked up from his sheet of paper, when the addressed recruits jumped up to stand at attention. "You’ll be assigned to other cells, so please report to Colonel Sheppard. He’ll divide you up and take care of the rest of the briefings. The rest of you will stay in resistance Cell 4 for now."

The six recruits left the tent talking enthusiastically amongst themselves. Daniel turned back to the remaining four.

"Okay, well, welcome to our camp family. Since you won't be switching cells, you’re all familiar with procedures and who to address if problems arise. So let me tell you what we do here.”

He rifled some of his papers and cleared his throat again. “As you’re all aware, there’s a device in Washington D.C. referred to as the _Stargate_ , a circular device which allows the Aschen to travel thousands of light years through the galaxy to their homeworld."

Sam jerked into an upright position, instantly awake. She placed the cup of coffee on the bench next to her and locked her gaze on Daniel.  

He unfolded a large map and fastened it on a whiteboard at the front of the tent. Sam recognized the map from her history books. An old map of Earth.

"About 200 years ago, the Aschen set up weather control systems on our entire planet to increase the productivity of Earth's farmlands. As a result, the huge masses of ice that covered the North and South Pole melted.” He turned back to them. “This revealed a second Stargate, which had previously been buried deep under the ice of Antarctica."

Sam fidgeted impatiently. Her teacher had already told her all about the Aschen weather control systems, but a second Stargate? They’d found a second Stargate?

Daniel turned to the map again. "Due to the massive change caused by the weather control systems, both Pole regions became thriving forest areas. Those areas were unusable for farming because of the polar nights, the rocky grounds, and more drastic weather changes. Therefore, the Aschen never put resources into populating the region. Because of that, the Stargate wasn’t discovered by them, but by two humans. Andrew Siler and Matthew Keller, the founders of our organization."

He turned to face them. "Welcome to the Antarctica forests."

Sam held her breath. Antarctica forests. That was her location. Where they’d discovered a second Stargate. Her pulse raced. Was it possible…?

Daniel unfolded another map. "Okay then… Let me give you a bit of an overview of the history of our planet since the Aschen started using the weather control units."

For the first time during one of Daniel’s lectures, Sam almost burst from impatience. He spent almost two hours explaining the impact of the weather control systems. About how the polar caps had melted. How the Aschen had started extracting vast amounts of salt water from the oceans to fertilize desert regions. How over ninety percent of Earth’s landmass had been converted into farmland. All information she was familiar with. But from the expressions of some other recruits, they hadn’t known as much her.

She snapped back when Daniel returned to the subject of the Stargate. Talk about taking a detour.

"When the Stargate was first discovered, Keller and Siler didn't know what to do with it. They didn't even know how to use it, because it was believed to be an Aschen invention leading only to the Aschen homeworld. An understandably big surprise to find out the Aschen weren’t aware of a second Stargate.

They were wise enough to keep their discovery a secret from the Aschen government. One hundred and fifty years ago, they formed what would become the first cell of our resistance movement. Since then, our group has grown and spread throughout the world. Antarctica marks the birthplace of the resistance.

During the past century, our organization recruited some of the smartest people on the planet. Eventually the 'Stargate Program' was formed. Almost thirty years ago, after a lot of research and planning, the Stargate’s functionality was finally put to the test. This had to be done carefully and in accordance with the Aschen’s gate travel schedule. Whenever the gate was activated, it had to be precisely timed to adhere to a strict timeframe used by the Aschen in between their gate activities."

Sam’s eyes widened. "Four minutes ten seconds." Of course. If they tried to form a wormhole at the same time, two Stargates on the same planet would cancel each other out. Blood rushed in her ears. The second Stargate _could_ be used.

So the Aschen couldn’t be the builders of the gate. Otherwise, they’d have known there was a second Stargate on Earth. She’d been right. All this time, her theories about the Stargate had been correct.

Jason elbowed her. Sam looked up. Daniel and O’Neill both stared at her. She straightened and swallowed. She’d spoken out loud. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

"Um." Daniel glanced at O’Neill, visibly put off. "That's correct. The Aschen use exactly four minutes and ten seconds between gate travel activities.” He turned to Sam. “How—um—how do you know that?"

Sam shifted when everybody looked at her. Damn her excitement. "I just read about it once when I was—um—looking around their computer system. Sorry, Please go on."

O’Neill leaned forward, his stare turning more intense. Daniel looked at him again, apparently unsure of how to carry on.

"Jack?"

O’Neill didn’t take his gaze off her. "Carter, what do you know about the Stargate?”

"I—“ Sam bit her lower lip. "Know, sir? Really not a lot. I know it's the device that leads to the Aschen homeworld. It is a ring made of a material called naquada, capable of forming a stable wormhole that allows matter to pass through—“

"Okay." O’Neill winced and lifted his hand.

Sam closed her eyes. Damn, she’d managed to annoy him already. “Sorry, sir.”

“I was referring to things that aren’t in standard textbooks."

"Sir?" What did he want from her exactly? Why did he assume she knew more than what was in the textbooks?

"You apparently know the timeframe between gate-travels. Which is highly classified information. Anything else you know about the gate one wouldn’t find in textbooks?"

"Well." Sam fidgeted. "I sometimes gained access to the Aschen system. I’ve always been fascinated by the gate, so I studied their schematics of it and the dialing device belonging to it.”

She beamed at him. “Actually, this is really fascinating. Did you know the system of the Stargate itself is a lot more advanced than Aschen technology? The program the Aschen use to operate and control the gate is a bridge between their system and the Stargate one. So it stands to reason the Aschen might not be the builders of it as they always claim.” She looked at Daniel. ”That the Aschen were unaware of a second Stargate on Earth is further proof."

O’Neill and Daniel exchanged a strange glance. Sam cleared her throat awkwardly. "Of course that’s just vague speculation, sir. I’m not a scientist."

"Go on." O’Neill nodded. “Tell us more.”

Sam inhaled. “Well, sir. Let's assume the Aschen are not the original builders. That raises the question, who is? And more importantly, it could mean the gate doesn’t just connect to the Aschen homeworld. There are billions of suns in our galaxy, so what if there are Stargates on more planets? Maybe even beyond our galaxy. Think about it. There are 39 symbols, and the gate comes in connection with a dialing device. Why would you need 39 symbols to connect to only one world?"

Sam glanced from O’Neill to Daniel. Okay, maybe she was becoming a bit too enthusiastic. The archeologist stood frozen, his eyes wide. Probably the wrong audience for her wild speculations.

Sam sighed and went on. “It’s not as unreasonable as it sounds if you think about it. When the Aschen dial their homeworld, they need seven symbols. Out of thirty-nine. I found that information in their files as well. So if you take those numbers and do the math… 39 symbols. That means roughly 1.9 million possible destinations the gate might connect to. That’s assuming every symbol can be used only once per combination and, provided that every address needs exactly seven symbols. If that’s not the case there'd be a potentially infinite number of destinations that could be dialed.”

Both still looked bewildered. Sam flinched inwardly.

“Of course, I know the number 1.9 million is highly unlikely. Not every planet in our galaxy is inhabitable. More likely only five to ten percent of all the possible addresses will lead to another world. I can’t make sense of the different symbols yet, so it's really all speculation, but—“

"Coordinates." Daniel leaned against the table behind him.

"What?" Sam shook her head, confused.

"The symbols. They’re coordinates in space."

 _Coordinates_. The most obvious solution and she hadn't even thought of it. Space was three-dimensional, so additional calculators were needed to determine specific locations.

"Of course." She prevented herself from jumping up from her seat in excitement at the last second. "The vast dimensions of space. Yes. Seven symbols are necessary to—“ Something else dawned on her. Her eyes widened and she looked from one man to the other. "Oh my God, it's not just speculation, is it? It's true."

"Um. Yes, yes it is." Daniel nodded and folded his arms. "And it took our scientists almost a century to figure it out. So, how on earth do you know all that?"

"I—“ Sam swallowed. “I like physics."

"No kidding." O’Neill smirked. Sam straightened. He’d not taken his eyes off her for the past five minutes. Her cheeks heated. "Carter. When this briefing’s over, I want you to report to me. I’ll move you into the science department for now."

Science department. “Sir, I’m not a scientist, though. I never visited a university.”

“Close enough.”

"Yes, sir." She beamed at him. Science. She’d actually be able to do something related to science. Heart pounding fast, she focused her gaze back on Daniel.

“Okay.” The archeologist put his coffee cup down. “So, about thirty years ago, a random combination of symbols proved successful, and we managed to send a team through our Stargate to make contact with a primitive people. They provided us with a large list of gate addresses. Since then, the main objective of Cell 4 has been to explore other worlds and bring back the technology we find.”

He rolled out another poster showing their galaxy. “So far, we’ve been on hundreds of worlds. And thousands more still need to be explored. Most of you will join a so-called Stargate team, and participate in the explorations.”

Going through the Stargate. Dizziness washed over her.

“So let me tell you a bit about what you’ll encounter.” Daniel pushed his glasses further up one his nose. “There’s a hostile race called the Goa’uld out there. They’re snake-like creatures who take humans as their hosts. An army of Jaffa warriors protects them. As far as we know, they’re the only race in our galaxy technologically advanced enough to match the Aschen.”

He started handing out a few papers, and Sam looked down to study them. One was a reference guide that included a drawing of a Jaffa warrior, as well as background information about the Goa’uld.

“The Goa’uld consider themselves superior to humans. Just as much as the Aschen do. So our policy up to now has been avoidance. The Aschen and the Goa’uld are hostile towards each other. If you’ll all read through your handout real quick, you’ll get an overview of the basics.”

Sam took a sip of her now-cold coffee and started reading. Basic information about the war between the Aschen and the Goa’uld. Apparently, they’d been engaged in an armed conflict until a little less than three hundred years ago. Since then, they’d been in a state of cold war, with each party constantly trying to undermine the other.

 _No wonder the Aschen are so paranoid._ That they’d managed to keep the existence of other worlds a secret when there was a war going on in the galaxy was astounding. And scary. Sam looked at the paper thoughtfully. The Jaffa warrior looked intimidating in his metal uniform and helmet. He carried a strange long staff in his hand. A weapon, the notes explained.

Daniel cleared his throat and Sam lifted her eyes again. “Sooner or later you might run into a Jaffa patrol on one of your missions through the gate. The Goa’uld are territorial and they claim uninhabited planets for themselves to expand.”

He got up, walked over to the whiteboard, and drew a table on it. “The Aschen undermine and conquer silently and without any kind of armed conflict. Earth is a perfect example. Eight-hundred years ago, our planet was home to thousands of thriving cultures. The development stopped when the Aschen arrived through the Stargate uncovered in the north of the African Continent. They established themselves as saviors, and over the centuries, slowly diminished our race.”

He turned to the group. “The Goa’uld are different. They openly attack and subdue the worlds they conquer. They have advanced weapons and attack vessels.”

“And they’re suffering from a superiority complex.” O’Neill straightened. “So if you run into one of their troops, don’t provoke them. We don’t have the resources to fight against two enemies.”

Daniel nodded. “Even though we’re relatively protected since Earth is an Aschen ruled world, we don’t want to draw attention to the fact that humans are travelling around the galaxy. So far, we’ve managed to stay below the radar of Aschen intelligence. However, we’ve observed an increase in territoriality in the Goa’uld recently. So be cautious.”

Morris lifted his hand. “Excuse me, sir. But what’s the purpose of going through the gate if we don’t even interact with the Goa’uld or the Aschen? Aren’t we trying to fight a war?”

“Generally, yes.” Daniel folded his arms. “Specifically us, no. Cell 4’s mission is to acquire weapons and technology off world, as well as establish contact to potential allies and trade partners.”

Jason scratched his head. “Isn’t that like going the long way around? I mean, wouldn’t an open attack make more sense?”

“If you wanna lose the war, yeah.” O’Neill shot him a wry look.

Daniel rolled his eyes at O’Neill, and unfolded another poster. “What you don’t know is, the Aschen have managed to build a huge confederation of planets. We estimate that hundreds of worlds belong to their territory. Most of them are used like Earth, for farming and food production. Others, closer to the Aschen homeworld, are used for weapons and spaceship construction.”

He marked the Aschen territory on the map of the galaxy. “Starting an open attack would be pointless as long as we remain outnumbered. So for now, our efforts are limited to acquiring weapons and allies, as well as information. Knowledge about what’s going on in our galaxy is of enormous value, since the Aschen keep us in the dark.”

“So we’re not engaged in attacks against the Aschen at all?” Jason’s body slumped.

Daniel sat back down on the table. “There are other resistance cells that take care of attacks on Aschen officials when needed.”

Sam sat up straight. “Are the Aschen aware of what we’re doing?”

Daniel nodded. “They’re aware there is a resistance movement, or at least a group of rebels. They aren’t aware of the Stargate and the operations surrounding it. Which is why secrecy is imperative. You’ll all be directly involved with Stargate operations, so you’re all responsible for keeping this program a secret. Thanks to our location in Antarctica, we’re naturally isolated.”

Sam rolled the paper in her hands. “Yes, but how do you keep the Stargate a secret? As you said before, the Aschen use theirs, so don’t the two gates cancel each other out?”

Daniel’s face lit up at her question. Obviously he was thrilled to talk to somebody who knew about these things. “Technically you’re right. Which is why our procedure always follows a strict protocol. We download the Aschen’s gate travel schedule once a week, which allows us to determine four fixed three-minute windows each day, during which teams can leave or return through the gate. If a returning team misses their window, they’ll have to wait another six hours for the next window. If our gate goes online, the Aschen’s Stargate will be disabled temporarily without them even knowing it. Which is why it’s important we adhere to their travel schedule.”

Daniel walked back to the whiteboard. “Okay, now that your most important questions are answered, let’s get into the details.”

The meeting went on for another four hours. The more Sam learned, the more excited she became. The resistance had its own Stargate. If only she could be assigned to one of the teams. Who’d have thought her dream of going through the gate would happen so soon.

At the end of the meeting, O’Neill referred all of them to the 'basic operations' tent, where later that day, an older soldier named Walter would take care of the administrative duties. He’d give them new camp uniforms that designated them as full members, as well as provide them with standard weapons and equipment.

When everybody got up to head out of the briefing, O'Neill approached Sam.

"Carter, walk with me.”

Sam gathered her papers and hurried to follow him. He waited for her in front of the tent. They walked up the small hill towards a smaller group of tents, the science camp located at the far end of the clearing.

"You didn't tell me you were a scientist." He kept looking ahead as they trudged through the grass.

She shook her head. "I’m not, sir. As I said, I’ve never visited a school. Women aren't allowed to study, so everything I know I learned from homeschooling and studying by myself."

"All the more impressive.” He glanced at her. “You sure know an awful lot about this stuff. Where did you grow up again?"

Sam tensed. "Um… the West, sir… near the Pacific Coast. In a small town." Was that right? Damn, she didn’t remember exactly what she’d told him when they’d first met.

"I see. And who did you say your parents were?"

"I didn't say anything." She stopped and narrowed her eyes at him. "Permission to speak freely, sir?"

"Go ahead."

"Why do I have the feeling you're testing me?"

He stopped and turned to study her. Then a smirk crossed his lips and he continued walking.

"Sir?" She hurried to keep up with him.

"I _was_ testing you, Carter. A young woman with your background shouldn’t have that much knowledge about the Stargate technology. You're not a covert Aschen woman, are you?" His eyes twinkled, and Sam exhaled. Thank God, he was joking.

She shook her head. "Definitely not, sir."

"Didn't think so. Aschen women are usually a lot less attra—“He cleared his throat. "—feisty."

"Feisty, sir?"

"Yeah. You know. Courageous, tempered, outspoken. Aschen women are usually dull and boring. Never joke, never show emotion.”

"Sounds like you have a lot of experience with them." When his head jerked around and she saw the glint in his eyes, she paled. "Oh, I didn’t mean—I wasn’t implying—I meant experience talking to them, sir. Not…" She flinched and forced herself to stop babbling. What was going on with her?

"Not what, Carter?" O’Neill nudged her with his shoulder.

She swallowed. "I didn't want you to think that I was implying anything sexual, sir."

"Weren't you?" His smirk told her he was still teasing her. Her cheeks warmed. Damn him. Apparently he enjoyed her awkwardness. She cleared her throat and fixated her eyes on the science camp again.

"So, Carter, no family ties, no home to return to. Essentially that means nothing to lose. Makes you the perfect soldier."

"Maybe, sir." She stared at the grass. Her father. It had been over four months since she’d run away.

Would she ever be able to return home to him? Or did she really have no family left? Somehow her memories of her life back then felt like flashes from another lifetime. Glimpses into the life of a different person.

"You okay?"

She looked up. O’Neill scrunched his brows at her.

"Yes, sir. Why?"

"You got kinda quiet there for a moment."

"I'm fine."

They reached the scientist's camp. The tents were a lot bigger than they’d appeared from a distance. O’Neill entered the biggest tent and held the flap open for her. Sam entered behind him.

The inside was stacked with boxes, books, weird looking machines, and computers.

"Hey, McKay." O’Neill looked around.

A dark-haired man lifted his head from the device he was working on. Sam had seen him around camp a few times, but he’d always ignored her.

Except that one time when she’d run into him at the food tent and he had started yelling at her because he’d nearly stumbled into a bowl of lemon slices...

"Well, what do you know." McKay folded his arms. "Did my reports finally get your attention?"

"Nice to see you too, Rodney." O’Neill leaned against the desk, looking unaffected by the man’s hostility. "Remember how you've been bugging me about getting you an assistant?"

"Remember?" McKay gave a sarcastic laugh and picked up a stack of papers from his filing. "See this? Not a day goes by where I don't send that request to you. Ever since Dr. Felger and Dr. Lee started working on their own projects, things’ve gotten a lot worse around here. There." He pointed to a small monitor. Numbers flashed across the screen.

O’Neill raised his eyebrows. “That supposed to say anything to me?”

McKay rolled his eyes. "I’m never going to finish my work if you don't start putting more resources into our physics department."

O’Neill groaned. "Okay, listen. For now, I'm granting you at least one wish. Carter? Meet McKay. You gotta excuse his horrible manners. I want you to work with him for a coupla weeks. See that you brush up on your knowledge on Stargate technology."

Sam smiled at the scientist and extended her hand. "Nice to meet you."

McKay just looked at her, unmoving. Then his eyes shifted to O’Neill. “That’s a woman.”

Sam faltered. She turned her head to O’Neill and found him smirking at her. “Perceptive, isn’t he.”

A giggle threatened to bubble up and she quickly lowered her head.

McKay scowled. "Is this supposed to be some kind of joke?"

"What in my expression makes you think I am joking? She's smart from what I can tell."

McKay rolled his eyes again. "Yeah, well, that really doesn't say much. No offense."

Sam raised her eyebrows at O’Neill. He still looked unaffected. Apparently, he was used to the scientist’s arrogant demeanor. "You know, McKay, maybe that’s why I haven’t responded to your requests until now. They’re just too smart for me. I think from now on I shouldn’t even bother reading them anymore."

McKay sighed and dropped his arms. He walked up to Sam, scrutinizing her. "She doesn't even have a degree in science. Or any kind of degree for that matter. What on earth could she help me with? Am I supposed to teach the rookies now? ‘Cause seriously, my time is way too limited to—“

"You asked for an assistant, here she is. Knock yourselves out." O’Neill straightened. “I expect you to show her around, McKay.” He nudged Sam’s upper arm. “Have fun.”

Then he left the tent. McKay stared after him, brows lifted in disbelief. He shook his head. "They expect you to bring the best possible results. They expect miracles. And who do they send? Ridiculous."

"Hi." Sam extended her hand again, but McKay just nodded with a sigh.

"Yeah, yeah. Since you're here already, why don't you make yourself useful." He walked back up to his desk.

"Of course." Finally she’d get to work in a field she was comfortable in. Numbers, experiments, equations. Her gaze roamed over the scientific devices scattered around the tent. Which one would he want her to work on first? "What do you need me to do?"

"Move some of those boxes out of the way. And get me some coffee from the food tent. I’m never going to get this done without coffee."

Sam dropped her arms, her shoulders slumped. Coffee? He wanted her to make coffee and move boxes around? Not quite the brain teaser she’d hoped for, but it was a start.


	12. Taking Chances

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the new version of "Stargate Aschen", completely revised style-wise. 
> 
> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> Also, this version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

Sam sighed, balancing three cups of coffee on a tray. She pulled the tent flap aside and entered.

The archeology tent. She glanced around. Not much different from the other scientist’s tents except this one looked more disorderly.

Daniel Jackson lifted his head. “Hey.” His lips tugged into a smile.

“Hi. Sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

“You’re not. Come in.”

Sam walked along a narrow path not covered in files or artifacts of sorts.

The entire tent was stacked with books, some lying on the ground or on boxes, others standing on boards and planks that formed makeshift bookshelves. Papers, artifacts and even more books covered the large wooden table in the middle of the tent.

How could anybody know where to find anything in this chaos? She raised her eyebrows at him. "So this is where you hide out when you're not at the food stand."

Daniel grinned. "Yes, this is where I work. Do you need help with something?"

“No. I just…” She sighed and held up the tray. "Coffee?"

“Thanks.” Daniel winced. "McKay’s still using you as his personal waitress, huh?"

Sam stared at him. Great. Personal waitress. So it had already made its round at camp.

He chuckled. "People talk. You'll get used to it." He turned with part of an artifact in his hand to get an open book from a nearby box, and compared it to something in the book.

She put one of the cups on his desk, then sat down on one of the boxes that didn't have books lying on it. She’d better not touch anything. From the looks of it, Daniel had his own system in the chaos, and she didn’t want to mess up his work.

"McKay thinks I'm too stupid to help him."

"Yeah." Daniel released an exasperated breath. "Sorry. You'll get used to him after a while. He thinks everybody’s too stupid to help him. He's insufferable, but he's also pretty much a genius, which is why Jack doesn’t even bother to discuss it with him."

Sam put the tray down. "I just wish he’d share some of his knowledge. The colonel ordered me to brush up on my knowledge of Stargate technology, but McKay won’t even let me get close to anything related to it."

"Here’s a thought." Daniel’s face brightened. "I’ve been asking McKay to help me with some artifacts for weeks, but he doesn’t have time. Maybe you could do that.”

Sam’s pulse sped up. Finally something other than carrying around coffee. “I’d love to.”

“But we’d need to finish the categorizations first. All these boxes in the corner there hold artifacts that need to be classified, labeled and catalogued. There are tags over there and somewhere here…" He searched between the papers on his desk. "Ah, here are the pre-printed lists. Just fill them in, and then tag the artifact with the number in the row on the list, so we can find it again later on.” He winced. “I know it's not exactly complex science."

"I’ll do it. It's better than making coffee all day." Sam grinned at him, taking the lists and the pen he handed her. "Thanks Daniel."

He returned her smile. "No problem. Once we’re done with that, we can go through the artifacts."

Sam went to work. Finally, for the first time in three days, she was doing something useful.

 

***

 

“What do you think it does?” Sam leaned in close to look through the magnifying glass.

Daniel shrugged. “I’m not sure. I wish I could read the inscriptions, but I’ve never seen this language before.”

They studied the piece of technology in front of them on the table.

She’d spent the entire last week working with Daniel on artifacts retrieved from alien planets. Surprisingly many of them were pieces of technology.

McKay hadn’t asked for her once. She brought him his coffee every morning and afternoon, and left him alone the rest of the time.

“Well, there’s certainly some kind of power circuit here.” Sam inched the tweezers closer to the circuit. “I think there’s even a power source. These readings indicate some kind of voltage. I just don’t see what the source could be.”

“Can you turn it on?”

“I think I found the switch, but I’m not sure it’s wise to turn it on before we know what it does. For all we know it could be a bomb.”

Daniel shook his head. “It doesn’t look like any weapon we’ve ever seen.”

They looked at each other for a moment, then bent over the little piece of technology again. Their expectations rose while Sam tried to enable the power source of the artifact.

“Daniel.” The tent flap opened and Vala stormed inside. Both Sam and Daniel jerked upright at her shout.

“Holy Hannah.” Sam dropped the tweezers, her heart pounding in her ears. “Vala, don’t do that.”

“Sammie. Daniel.” She flung her arms around the archeologist’s neck and looked at him from under her eyelashes. “Did you miss me?”

“Vala.” Daniel rolled his eyes and tried to loosen her arms from his neck. “We’re working here. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t scare us like that.”

Sam winced when Vala stormed to her and flung her arms around her neck. “I missed you, too. I gotta tell you both all about our latest mission.”

“Oh, I don’t think so.” Daniel gently moved her out of the way.

“Aww, Daniel.”

The archeologist chose a book from the shelf and opened it. Vala turned, leaning her backside against the edge of the table.

She smiled at him seductively. “You don’t want me around?”

Sam looked up when Vala’s fingers closed around a small silver ball lying in a box on the table. She held it up. “What’s this?”

Daniel sighed in exasperation and reached over to take the ball from her. She pulled it out of reach with a teasing grin. “What is it?”

“Vala.”

“Come on, Daniel. A girl’s curious… about a lot of things.” She let her gaze travel down his body and Sam failed to hide a grin. Was Vala’s interest in the archeologist genuine, or was she playing?

“Vala.” Daniel grabbed for the artifact again, and once more failed to take it from her. He grabbed Vala’s wrist and removed the little ball from her fingers with his other hand. “You’re only curious about one thing regarding artifacts. How much they’re worth on the black market.” He put the ball back in its box and closed it with a snap. 

Vala pouted. “My curiosity for you has nothing to do with that.”

Daniel raised his eyebrows. “No? I’m just the guy in charge of all the valuable artifacts.” His voice dripped sarcasm. He went back to his book.

“Sammie, help me here.”

“Sorry, you’re on your own.” Sam tried to reconnect two circuits on the side of the artifact with tweezers, then looked up at Daniel. “Any luck with the language?”

“Not yet.”

“Anyway.” Vala strolled around the table, touching an artifact here and there under Daniel’s watchful eye. “We just made contact with an incredible new species. They’re called the Nox. They have the ability to vanish and reappear out of thin air. Unfortunately they’re unwilling to share any technology with us.” She looked up, an indignant expression on her face. “They think we’re primitive.”

“You didn’t steal anything from them, did you?” Sam smiled at her.

Vala gasped. “I’m shocked by the accusation.”

“She probably didn’t, but only because they had it all hidden.” Daniel folded his arms, and looked at the young woman over his glasses.

Sam nodded. “Sounds accurate.”

“Okay, I’ll admit.” Vala sighed. “They did hide it all, but even if they hadn’t…”

An alarm wailed.

Sam jumped up from her seat and covered her ears at the shrill sound. Vala and Daniel tensed.

“What the hell is that?” Sam had to yell to drown out the noise. The speaker was in the corner right next to her.

“Something is wrong with our Stargate system.” Daniel gestured towards the exit. “Come on.”

He grabbed Vala’s arm to pull her with him, undoubtedly to prevent her from stealing something while they were gone. Sam moved around the table and followed them. They raced over to the main science tent and hurried inside.

“What’s going on?” Daniel looked at McKay and Dr. Lee.

“I don’t know.” Dr. Lee dropped his arms and shrugged. “Our access to the gate system just shut down.”

“Excuse me.” McKay rushed by him, almost pushing him out of the way. “If you don’t mind, some people are actually working here.”

“Rodney.” Daniel yelled over the alarm. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know yet. And I won’t if you keep asking.”

Sam looked at the flashing screen in the back—the only computer screen she could see—and raised her eyebrows. She’d seen the mainframe before. It looked like the Aschen computer system.

She stumbled forward when somebody stormed into the tent behind her. O’Neill. He grabbed her shoulders and moved her out of the way.

“Report!”

When McKay didn’t answer, Dr. Lee came forward. “Sir…something happened with the gate. We were shut out.”

“Why?” Jack leaned his palms on the table. “Talk to me, Rodney.”

“I don’t know.” The scientist looked up with a scowl. “And I certainly won’t know as long as people keep dropping in here asking me that every ten seconds.”

“Dammit, McKay.” Jack slammed his palms down. Then he spun around. “Will somebody turn that damn alarm off?”

Dr. Lee hurried to one of the computers and entered a command. The deafening wail cut off.  Uncanny silence followed, only broken by the clack of McKay entering commands on an outdated keyboard.

“McKay.” O’Neill’s face darkened.

“Okay. Okay okay. There’s been some kind of brief power outage that locked us out. The cause was…” He sighed and looked up at O’Neill. “The generators. I’ve been telling you for months they need to be replaced. But did anything happen? No. We can get new weapons, we can get new tables, we can even get fancy new uniforms, but generators?” He shook his head.

“Rodney.” O’Neill walked around the desk. “Now’s not the time. I have a team due back in an hour. Can you get us back online?”

“I’m working on it, but it’s not that easy.”

“If we’re not back online in an hour, these people are gonna walk through the gate in Powhatan City, right into the hands of Aschen security guards.”

“You don’t have to tell me what’s at stake, and this won’t go any faster if you do.” Rodney mumbled a few curses. “They don’t think they have to take you seriously, but once they need you, everything’s supposed to work and be repaired within the snap of a finger. Ridiculous.”

Jack straightened and inhaled, then paced back and forth. “How long?”

“I don’t know yet. The power only went out for about two seconds, but it was enough to log us out of the system, interrupt the connection, and log us back on without the protocol. The system identified us as unauthorized intruders and locked us out permanently. I’ll have to rewrite the entire access protocol and that’ll take a while.”

“How _long_?” Jack glared at him.

“A few hours at least.”

“That’s a few hours too long.”

“Excuse me.” Sam pushed her way between Daniel and Vala. “Are you talking about the Aschen computer system?”

“Where’ve you been?” McKay looked up at her. “My coffee’s been empty for hours.”

“I…” Sam cleared her throat. Technically she’d disobeyed O’Neill’s orders working with Daniel instead of McKay. How would he react?

“I asked her to help me classify some artifacts.” Daniel stuck his hands in his pockets. “None of the other scientists ever have time, and she was available. I figured she’d be more useful doing that than carrying around coffee all day.”

Jack turned his head back to McKay and raised his eyebrows. “Well?”

The scientist’s face remained blank. “Well what?”

“She asked you a question.”

McKay released an exasperated sigh. “Yes, this is about the Aschen computer system.”

How dare he use that tone with her? As though she were a five year old child. Sam pushed her anger down. It wouldn’t get her anywhere, and there were more pressing needs. “I assume you were using a double-encryption standard gateway to get in, creating a fake ID that made the system recognize you as an Aschen official?”

McKay’s eyes widened, then he glanced at O’Neill as though unsure whether he should reply. O’Neill motioned for him to answer.

“Yes.” McKay nodded. “I programmed the protocol myself.”

“I’m sure it was good work.” Diplomacy. Always a good start when you wanted to tell somebody they were wrong. “But it’s risky and problematic. The slightest fluctuation will shut you out. It’ll never work if you need to be permanently connected.”

McKay folded his arms and leaned back in his chair with a sarcastic chuckle. “I see. And I assume you’ve found a better way?”

Sam narrowed her eyes. He seemed to have no confidence whatsoever in her abilities as a hacker. Or anything but a waitress.

“I have.” Talking to him would be useless. He wasn’t willing to listen anyway. She turned to O’Neill.

“Sir, I developed an algorithm that works in tune with their security system, and allows me to log onto their mainframe whenever I want, and for as long as I want. The algorithm automatically duplicates IDs of users already logged on. Whenever the user logs out, it automatically clones other logged on IDs in the background. That allows me to can gain easy access to all systems permanently in use, among them the Stargate control unit. Now, if a user—“

“Carter.” Jack pressed his fingers against his temples.

Right. For him, explanations had to be short, simple and to the point. Damn, she’d have to learn to shorten her speeches. She remembered the metaphor she’d used to describe the procedure to Minny.

“It’s like a shadow, sir. Of course it’s a lot more complicated than that. But the basics are similar.”

Jack looked at McKay. “Does that make any sense to you?”

The scientist nodded with a roll of his eyes. “Yes, but it’s impossible. It occurred to me years ago. I’ve tried to crack the Aschen algorithm needed for the procedure to work. You’d need an entire team of scientists, and a few years of research to even come close to cracking it. Sorry, blondie, but people a lot smarter than you have worked on that and failed.”

Blondie? What the hell was his problem? She folded her arms. “It’s how I accessed the system for almost a year.”

McKay barked a laugh. “Oh please.”

How dare he talk to her as if she was inferior? She fisted her hands. This was her field. This was what she was good at. “Sir, I’ve done it before. I can get you into the system.”

Jack looked from her to McKay. “McKay, is this… this…”

“Algorithm, sir?” Sam said.

O’Neill’s gaze locked with hers, though he spoke to McKay. “Is what she says possible?”

“Possible? Yes. Likely? No.”

Sam gritted her teeth. “Sir, you said time is of the essence, here. Please, let me do it.” When he still didn’t move, she closed her eyes and shook her head. “Please, sir.”

O’Neill inhaled. “Carter, you say you’ve done it before?”

“Countless times, sir.”

“You’re absolutely certain it’ll work? Cause if you expose our position—“

“It’ll work, sir.” He still had doubts. She could see it on his face. “With all due respect, sir, I know what’s at stake. I wouldn’t say I can do it, if I wasn’t absolutely sure.”

Something flashed across his face and he raked his hand through his hair. “You accessed the Stargate control unit before?”

“Not exactly the Stargate control unit. I was in the system, but the SGCU is just a subsystem connected to the mainframe. All I gotta do is get you into the mainframe, and all subsystems will be open. I need to make a few adjustments, but that’s normal with every login.”

Impatience flashed across his face.

Sam cleared her throat and straightened. “Shouldn’t be a problem to gain access to the Stargate control subsystem, sir.”

“How long?”

“Well, recreating the algorithm, getting in, applying it, caching the access files—”

“Carter.”

Sam flinched. “Five minutes, sir.”

O’Neill raised his eyebrows and dropped his arms. McKay chuckled, and shook his head. “Oh, please…”

“McKay, you say it’s possible?” O’Neill’s gaze still held Sam’s.

“Yes, but…”

“Get up.”

Rodney’s head snapped up. He rose slowly from his chair. “You can’t be serious.”

“Carter, sit down and get started.” O’Neill folded his arms.

“Colonel, if she messes up, or makes even the tiniest mistake, they’ll be able to trace our position, and you know what that means.” He scoffed and touched O’Neill’s shoulder. “Think reasonably, I’m by far the smartest person on this planet, and even I didn’t manage to do it.”

“McKay.” O’Neill spun to face him. “She managed to figure out the Stargate all by herself. So excuse me if I’m willing to give her a chance at this. Shut up and let her work.”

Sam sat down and inhaled deeply. _No pressure. You’ve done this countless times before, this is no different._ Except that lives depended on her now. If she messed up, she would be responsible for the capture and execution of three men. Worse, she’d reveal their position to the Aschen, thereby compromising their entire cell, and the Stargate program.

Light-headed, she rubbed her palms on her pants, trying to focus on the flashing code on screen. What the hell had she been thinking saying she could do it? What if something went wrong?

“Hey.” A warm hand touched on her shoulder.

Sam turned her head. O’Neill’s head was right next to hers, so close she could feel the warmth radiating from him. “Focus on the task at hand. There’s a problem. Solve it. Don’t think about what’s at stake. You’ve done this before, you can do it again. Piece of cake.”

She gave him a weak smile. Her pulse slowed down. O’Neill gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. How could he be so gruff at times, then at other times so sensitive?

He was right. She’d done this countless times in her father’s library. This was her element. She knew the algorithms and access links by heart.

Sam returned her focus to the screen. Calmly, she opened the system’s mainframe. Standard security questions. She opened a command window and started entering the first line of code. Then she wrote the ten-line algorithm into the system cache.

Some adjustments. Double-checking the values of the algorithm. Making sure the connection was established. She hit enter and held her breath. An overlay box flashed up on screen.

_Connecting…_

Didn’t it take too long? Usually it took less than a second. Right. That had been from her father’s house at the outskirts of Powhatan City. She was halfway across the globe.

The screen flashed. _Connected._

“I’m in.” She turned and looked up at O’Neill.

“She’s in.” McKay leaned over her shoulder. “I can’t believe it.”

O’Neill flashed her a gorgeous smile. “Good job. Can you bring up the Aschen travel schedule?”

  1. Aschen travel schedule. “Yes, sir.” Sam typed a few commands into the designated field. A few moments later the live schedule opened on screen. “There you go, sir. All the scheduled gate activity for next week in live mode.”



“Live mode? This is incredible.” McKay stood up. “That means from now on we won’t have to buy the access codes anymore. We can access the schedules whenever we need to.”

“Not just the schedules.” Sam opened a few of the other subsystems. “I can get you access to all information, from medical data to transcripts of the Aschen proceedings.”

“Are we talking permanent access?” O’Neill leaned back against the desk, his gaze fixated on the monitor.

“Yes, sir.” Sam nodded. “But if there’s a problem with the generators, I suggest you let me write a program that’ll automatically reconnect the system. That might take some time, though. I can’t write a program like that in five minutes.”

“Great.” O’Neill nodded and pushed himself up to a standing position. “Carter, McKay, I want both of you to work on the program, so we can get it up and running as soon as possible.”

“Yes, sir.” Sam and McKay replied in unison.

O’Neill looked at her, then gave her a warm smile. “Sheppard and his team owe their lives to you. Carter, that was a damn good job.” He nudged her. “Seems you know more than just a little physics.”

Her cheeks warmed and she lowered her face. “Thank you, sir.”

“Alright, people.” O’Neill looked around. “Back to work. Carter, McKay. I expect daily reports on the program’s progress. McKay.” He made sure the scientist was looking at him before he continued. “From now on you’ll get your coffee yourself.”

McKay turned red. “I assure you, Colonel, if I’d known—”

“Just get the program ready and working.” O’Neill walked towards the exit. Before he left the tent, he turned around once more, and his gaze locked with Sam’s. She beamed at him and he looked taken aback for a moment. His gaze intensified, as his mouth turned up in a gentle smirk.

Her stomach flip-flopped. She liked him. A lot more than she should, given he was her camp commander. Oh, this was bad. Her purpose in joining the resistance hadn’t been to hook up with a man. Not to mention, O’Neill was a good deal older than her. What was wrong with her?

Surely, this was only a passing feeling of attraction. It wouldn’t last. It couldn’t.

 

***

 

Jack couldn’t avert his gaze from hers. Did she even know how beautiful she was? Those eyes. Bright blue, with a sparkle he’d never seen before. He’d been with many women in his wilder times, right after Sara had left, but none of them had ever affected him like this.

She turned to McKay, who started commenting on her algorithm. She beamed at him as she explained her hack, and McKay took notes. All her insecurity disappeared.

Carter had always been reserved about her skills—to the point of insecurity. But now… The woman he was looking at now glowed with self-confidence.

Damn, she was a scientist. A good one. He disliked scientists. He definitely didn’t dislike her.

Bad train of thought. He turned to leave the tent. What was the matter with him? He really shouldn’t be thinking about a subordinate that way. It was a dangerous road to go down, especially considering he was—at least officially—a married man.

Daniel complimented Carter on her rescue, and McKay released an audibly annoyed sigh.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. We all get it, she saved their lives. Can we get back to actually working now?”

“You know, Rodney. A little bit of humility really wouldn’t do you any harm, and it might even make people like you.”

Jack smirked. Had to give it to Daniel, he sure wasn’t afraid to tell people what he thought. He trudged downhill towards his command tent.

Carter. What other surprises did she have up her sleeve? She was becoming a very interesting candidate for a Stargate team. Especially since Sheppard and Mitchell pressed him to take a scientist into SG-1.

Up to now, he’d refrained from doing so. Technically, Daniel was a scientist, even though his specialties lay with ancient history and languages. And he couldn’t stand any of the scientists. Carter, on the other hand, she was both. Granted, she wasn’t the best soldier, and she certainly lacked experience, but that would come with time.

A scientist. And the only one at camp who’d received combat training. The only one he could stand being around. He’d have to think about that.


	13. Seduce Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the new version of "Stargate Aschen", completely revised style-wise. 
> 
> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> Also, this version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

For about the millionth time, Sam looked at herself in the mirror. Hugging her waist like a second skin, the black dress flowed down her body and covered her upper thighs to just above her knees. She hadn’t worn anything like this since she’d run away from home. “You don’t think this is too—“

“Sexy? Saucy? Hot?” Vala bustled around Sam and grinned at her in the mirror. “Nah.”

“I was gonna say girly.”

“Hun, you don’t have to dress in pants all the time.” Janet got up from a chair in a corner of the small storeroom. “You look fantastic. You should have some clothes to wear besides your camp uniform.”

Sam tugged at the skirt. It was a nice dress. Wasn’t it a bit inappropriate, though? Besides, when would she get a chance to wear it again?

“Try this jacket. It would go wonderful with the dress.” Janet handed her a dark jacket and Sam pulled it on. Wow, that did look good.

She brushed her fingers through her hair and tugged at the short strands. The town’s hairdresser had turned her wild and uneven cut into an even wilder looking layered bob, the ends of her hair spiky and splayed out. Definitely not boyish anymore especially with the light make-up.

“I don’t know.” Sam slid the jacket down her arms and handed it back to Janet.

Vala leaned against the wall next to the mirror. “Come on, Sammie. You can’t wear your camp uniform for team night out.”

“Why not?” Sam turned. “It’s comfortable.”

Janet sighed and shook her head. “No uniform when we’re out to have fun.” She turned to the shop owner who stood behind a small counter. “Linda, how much for the entire outfit?”

“For you girls? Twelve silver coins.”

“We’ll take it.” Janet threw the jacket back to Sam and placed the coins on the counter.

“Janet.” Sam walked up to her and lowered her voice. “I don’t have that much money yet. I’ve only been a full member for two weeks.”

“Consider it a gift.” The doctor smiled at her.

Sam pulled the jacket back on. She’d pay Janet at least part of the money back as soon as she’d saved up enough. Every resistance member received a weekly stipend of five silver coins to cover personal expenses. It wasn’t a lot, but then again nobody came to the organization to get rich.

When they left the shop, Vala hooked her arm into Janet’s and Sam’s. “I can’t wait ‘til we’re there. If you ask me, we should have a night out once a month.”

“Where are we going anyway?” Sam looked between the two women. She shouldn’t have let them talk her into going with them. A lot of work waited for her back at camp.

Two days ago, O’Neill had announced the composition of the new Stargate teams. He’d taken her as a scientific advisor onto his own team. An unexpected surprise that thrilled and scared her at the same time.

Two days from now, she’d go through the Stargate. And there was so much she didn’t know yet, about alien technology, about the Stargate itself and about resistance operations. She should be at camp reading up on the mission reports.

“O’Malley’s. It’s a bar not far from here. Perfect place to party, play darts, drink our heads off for an entire night, and have some harmless fun. Just because we’re resistance fighters doesn’t mean we shouldn’t blow off some steam every once in a while.” Vala grinned at her.

Great. Getting drunk in a foggy bar? That’s what she’d left her studies of gate technology for? She groaned. “I should have stayed at camp.”

“Nonsense.” Janet shook her head. “You need to loosen up a bit. Life’s more than just work, you know. Have some fun every once in a while.”

“Studying is fun for me.” Sam looked up when Vala and Janet turned their heads to her. “What?”

They turned onto a smaller street and walked over the uneven pavement. Thank God, she’d opted for the black ballerinas and not the high-heels Vala had suggested at the shop.

“As far as I’m concerned, fun means drinks, poker, and some hot interlude with a good-looking guy.” Vala cleared her throat. “So whatever you two do, keep your hands off Daniel.”

Janet released a groan. “Still not giving up on him?”

“I have a feeling tonight’s the night.” Vala looked determined. “So don’t interfere.”

“We should set Sam up with a guy.” Janet’s eyes twinkled.

Sam jerked her head around. “Don’t you dare.”

“No, that’s a great idea.” Vala nodded. “You need to have real fun. You know, the sweaty, physical kind.”

Sam’s cheeks grew warm. “I think I’m good, thanks.”

“You don’t have to worry about pregnancy if that’s what you’re concerned about.” Janet pushed a lock of hair that had loosened from her hairband behind her ear. “The monthly shots I give you prevent that.”

Vala scoffed. “I’m so jealous. You humans don’t even know how lucky you are the Aschen medicine did away with all the sexually transmitted diseases. I could tell you stories—”

“Spare us, please.” Janet shuddered. “I don’t need to hear it again. And I’m sure Sam doesn’t need the image at all.”

Sam closed her eyes. These women. They’d told her a few days ago that Vala was actually an alien. She wasn’t human—but she wasn’t Aschen, either. She’d come from a smaller planet and spent most of her life living among robbers, thieves and other criminals. Apparently, O’Neill valued her contacts to the alien black market.

“My point was.” Vala grinned at Sam. “Sex is entirely without consequences for you. A few hours of wild passion, and then you can just walk away the next morning. Tell me, Sammie, which one of the guys at camp does it for you?”

The image of O’Neill popped into Sam’s head. Tall, handsome… great sense of humor. And also her camp commander and superior officer. She averted her gaze. “Nobody. I work with those people.”

“So?” Vala shrugged. “Tonight’s not work. You can have a steamy interlude and go back to work tomorrow as if nothing happened. I do it all the time.”

“Me too.” Janet snickered.

The typical attitude for non-gifted people. Many humans treated sex like a casual afternoon activity. She’d never understood the appeal. Even when she’d been with Larek, sex hadn’t been on her mind. It wasn’t like he hadn’t tried to seduce her. Or that she didn’t like being close to him. But getting naked with him  and doing… Her cheeks burned. She definitely wouldn’t do that with someone she had to work with.

“I bet we could set you up with one of the ensigns.” Janet winked.

Sam frowned at her. “Don’t. They’re really not my type. I’m not looking to hook up with anybody.”

“Handsome’s not your type?” Vala raised her eyebrows. “Come on Sammie, we’re not talking about marrying for life. Releasing sexual tension can improve performance in the working environment. Everybody at camp does it. Well, almost everybody.”

Thoughtful, Janet looked up into the clear blue sky. “Maybe Sam’s more into mature guys. Men like Jack O’Neill.”

Vala’s head jerked around. Heat spread all the way to Sam’s ears. She pressed her lips together. “Will you two stop?” Damn, why did she have to blush so easily? “You’re impossible.”

Vala squealed. “Did you see that?”

“I did.” Janet gave a triumphant smile.

“She was totally blushing. Oh my God, so O’Neill?” Vala raised one eyebrow. “Really? He’s so serious… and old.”

“He’s not that old. Around forty, I think.” Janet shrugged. “Besides, he used to hook up with women left right and center when he was younger.”

“Bet you he’s really good in bed then. But still, too mature for my taste. Although he does have a nice body.”

“Okay, stop.” Sam covered her face with her hands. Time to put an end to this. “I’m not into O’Neill. He’s my superior officer. I’ll be working with him from now on.”

They turned another corner onto the main street with its large market place. Wow, this town really wasn’t big. The fountain in the marketplace marked the center.

When they entered O’Malley’s, located at the far end of the marketplace, the main room was overcrowded with people. Most of the guests were soldiers from their camp. The high volume made it clear at least some of them had had more than one beer already.

One of the ensigns yelled when he saw the three women enter. “Females on deck.” Heads turned. “Hey there, Janet.”

“That’s ma’am to you, ensign.” Janet winked at the young man.

“Whatever works for you, ma’am.” He grinned. “If you come over I’ll buy you a beer.”

Janet patted Sam’s arm. “Excuse me ladies.” With a sway of her hips she walked over to the ensign.

“Is she serious?” Sam turned to Vala, who shrugged.

“Yeah, why not? He’s a good-looking guy.”

“Hey, Carter.” One of the lieutenants lifted his glass toward her and winked.

Sam winced. “Okay, this is embarrassing.”

“Why?” Vala nudged her. “Enjoy the attention. You know, get some of that pent-up frustration out. Don’t worry, nobody’s interested in a relationship, so you don’t have to worry about them getting clingy or something. Go for one of the town guys if you don’t believe me.”

Yeah, that really wasn’t her main concern. Was everybody here looking to hook up with someone? She looked around, searching for someone she wanted to spend time with.  Maybe Morris or one of the scientists.

Vala rocked on her heels. “I’m gonna see if I can find Daniel. See you later.”

“Have fun.”

Vala walked off to the bar. Sam took a step back against the wall, right next to the entrance. What had she been thinking? She really shouldn’t have agreed to come here. She should be back at camp, immersed in her studies.

She flinched and hugged herself with her arms when a drunken guy bumped into her. He muttered an apology and the strong smell of alcohol reached her nostrils. Not one of the people from camp. He had to be one of the townsmen.

“Hey, sweetie.” He smiled at her and stumbled. “Can I buy you a drink?”

“No.” Sam shook her head. Maybe a little too rude. “Thank you.” She moved a few steps to the side, away from him. It didn’t look like he was gonna force the issue, but experience told her to be careful around drunken guys. Especially in a bar.

Two guys from camp passed by and bumped into her. One of them muttered an apology while the other smiled and his gaze lingered on her face.

Sam wished she could disappear into the wall. Awkward. Guys leering at her, flirting with her. All of it reminded her too much of the time before she’d found the resistance. Not the kind of entertainment she was looking for.

How could Janet and Vala handle the attention so light-heartedly? They looked forward to it. Blowing off some steam, Janet had called it.

“Carter.”

Sam flinched when somebody touched her shoulder. She turned her head.

O’Neill.

Tingles ran through her, leaving her lightheaded. He smiled at her. “You look a little overwhelmed.”

Damn, he looked good in his black shirt and the khakis. She lifted her eyes to his face, smile shaking. “Yes. Actually, sir, I was just thinking about leaving. There’s too many people here.”

“Come on, Carter.” He tilted his head towards the back of the bar. “I’m sitting back there in a corner with Sheppard and Daniel. Join us?”

Sam bit her lower lip and looked at the exit, then back to him. Spending the whole evening in this establishment, with guys hitting on her, trying to make conversation? Not something she was looking forward to. The only thing she was good at talking about was science. And none of these people were interested in that. Well, maybe except Daniel.

O’Neill leaned in to her, his voice taking on a soft, intimate edge. “I promise I’ll shoot anybody who dares to flirt with you.”

Shivers danced down her spine. A chuckle bubbled from her and she met his gaze. Had his eyes always been so dark, that intense? A faint trace of alcohol lingered on his breath, but there was something else. Something intoxicating. “Okay.” Why was her voice trembling?

He placed his hand at the small of her back and guided her through the crowd of people. The warmth of his palm jolted through her, and her skin hummed with hyper-awareness of his closeness.

They reached a small table in a corner. Sheppard and Daniel sat on chairs and talked.

“Hey, Sam.” Daniel lifted his bottle towards her. “You look great.”

“Yeah, you do.” Sheppard studied her intensely.

She sat down on a chair O’Neill pulled close for her. At least here people weren’t bumping into her anymore. 

“Carter.” Sheppard leaned forward. “I didn’t even really thank you yet. You know, for pulling my team out last week when the generators went down. Without you, we’d have stepped right into Aschen security in Powhatan City.”

Sam lowered her eyes. Ever since her hack of the Aschen computer system, everybody knew her at camp. Even people she’d never talked to now treated her as though she’d been part of their group for years. Word around camp traveled fast, and apparently her hack had earned her somewhat of a heroic reputation.

“Sam.” Daniel leaned in and Sam moved closer to hear him over the noise of the bar. “Did you come with Vala?”

“Yeah. She’s around here somewhere looking for you.”

Daniel winced. Sheppard hit his shoulder with a laugh. “Told you she’d make a pass at you. You, and probably a lot of other guys, so I’d take the chance before somebody else gets there first.”

“Hey.” Jack pointed the neck of his beer bottle at Sheppard. “Watch the talk. We don’t wanna scare Carter away.”

“Takes a lot more to scare me away, sir.” She gave him a smile.

O’Neill raised his eyebrows and leaned in to her. “Didn’t look that way when you were standing at the door.” His deep voice made her skin tingle.

She cleared her throat and shifted. He chuckled and nudged her. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell if you won’t.” When she gave him a warm smile, he grinned. “Let me get you a beer. You want something to eat, too?”

“No, sir, just beer’s fine. Thank you.” Thank God she wouldn’t have to fight her way through to the bar by herself. She watched O’Neill get up.

“So, Carter.” Sheppard leaned over, drawing her attention back to them. “SG-1, huh? Pretty nice. I was actually fighting with O’Neill over you. I wanted you on SG-2, but he wouldn’t give you up. Now I’m stuck with McKay.” He took a sip of his beer and winced. 

“Rodney isn’t so bad once you get used to him.” Sam scraped at a mark on the table. “To be honest, he knows a lot more about the Stargate than I do, so you’re probably better off with him.”

“Hey.” Daniel’s speech slurred. Apparently the bottle in front of him wasn’t his first. “I’m on SG-1 as well, remember? Do I need to be concerned?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll do my best not to get us killed.”

“Very comforting.” Daniel snorted.

“I’ll still take you if Jackson doesn’t want you on his team anymore.” Sheppard winked at her.

Sam cleared her throat. He was awfully charming tonight. Was he flirting with her?

“So, Sam.” First name use? Uh oh. “Are you looking for company tonight?” His hazel eyes locked with hers.

Sam swallowed. She hadn’t expected he’d be that direct about it. Her cheeks burned and she shook her head. “Um… I…” Sheppard was, undoubtedly, an attractive man, but taking him up on his offer? Absolutely not. She didn’t want to insult him, though.

“Sheppard.” O’Neill returned, his voice hard with warning. He put a bottle of beer in front of Sam and kept the other one for himself as he sat down. “Hands off Carter before I have to shoot you.”

Disappointment flashed across Sheppard’s face. “Sorry, didn’t know you were making claims. That’s just a shame.”

“No claim. Carter and I have a deal.” Jack lifted the beer to his mouth and took a sip.

“I see.” Sheppard chuckled. “A deal. Is that what you call it now? Well, I hope I’ll get myself a deal sometime tonight, too.”

O’Neill rolled his eyes and smiled at Sam.

They started a light conversation. Sheppard began telling anecdotes about their missions through the Stargate. Things that had gone wrong, pranks they’d played on teammates. Later, they started playing poker.

At some point, Vala joined their group. She didn’t even bother to get her own chair, but sat in Daniel’s lap. The archeologist was drunk enough to accept her advances. No doubt everyone would mock him for it the next morning, considering how resistant he usually was towards her.

Sam stifled a smile and turned her attention back to the game.

“Call.” Sheppard threw a silver coin to the middle of the table.

“Call.” O’Neil flicked one of his coins onto the pile, then looked at Sam.

Sam bit her lower lip and studied her cards. Not exactly a winning hand. Time to bluff.

“Raise you one.” She put her last two coins in the middle and raised her eyebrows when she found O’Neill staring at her. “What?”

“You’re bluffing.”

She folded her arms. “You willing to take that chance?”

A slow smirk crossed his lips. Dangerous. Uh oh. She turned her head to look at Sheppard. “Colonel?”

Sheppard groaned. “I’m out.” He folded his cards up and threw them on the table. O’Neill looked down at his hand, then back to Sam.

“You don’t have any coins left, Carter.”

“I don’t.” Her fingers tightened on her cards. Damn, he was calling her bluff, wasn’t he?

“That means you’re out of the game if you lose.”

Testing grounds, was he? Sam gave him her best blank face. “Pretty sure that’s not gonna happen.”

His gaze lingered on her for another moment, then he folded up his cards. “I’m out.”

She beamed at him. “I won? Really?” She threw her cards down in front of her. A pair of twos. “I was so bluffing.”

O’Neill’s eyes sparkled and he lifted his bottle to his mouth. “Uh huh.”

Sam narrowed her eyes at him. He sounded a bit too casual. He’d seen through her bluff hadn’t he? “You let me win.”

Still the hint of a smirk. “My hand sucked.”

The hell it did. She cocked her head, then got up and reached over to look at his cards. “Let me see.”

He chuckled and yanked at her hand away from them. Sam laughed as she stumbled against him, and steadied herself with one hand on his thigh.

“Carter, don’t you know it’s rude to look at another person’s cards after a game?” He flashed her a gorgeous smile.

“I knew it. You let me win. Shame on you.” She tried again to reach for his cards, but he seized her wrist. Sheppard reached over, snatched them up, and grinned at O’Neill. Sam groaned. “Oh come on. He looked at them.”

O’Neill’s eyes sparkled, his fingers around her wrist gentling. Awareness of him hit Sam like a jolt. The way his thumb grazed her skin, her hand on his thigh. She could feel the heat of him radiating through her.

She swallowed hard and sat back. He released her wrist with a last brush of his fingers against her skin, his gaze never leaving hers.

Sheppard shuffled the cards. “Jackson, are you playing again?”

No reply. Sam shifted her attention to Daniel and Vala. Her jaw dropped. Vala straddled Daniel’s lap, their lips locked in a deep, open-mouthed kiss. Oh boy.

She averted her eyes.

“Look at those two.” Sheppard shook his head. “Normally they are like a cat and dog. But get them drunk and they’re all over each other like teenagers.”

Sam reached for her bottle of beer and took a gulp. The room spun slightly. She’d probably have to go easy on the alcohol. “I don’t think Vala needs to be drunk.”

O’Neill chuckled, his gaze finding hers again.

“True.” Sheppard threw the cards on the table. “Good grief, get a room, Jackson.”

Sam shifted under O’Neill’s stare. “I don’t think they’re listening to you.”

“Apparently not.” Sheppard stood up. “I’m going to get a stronger drink. Maybe one of the town ladies over there would be interested in… um… a deal.”

“Oh for crying out loud, for the last time, that’s not what it meant.” O’Neill glared at him.

Sheppard laughed. “Right.” He left for the bar.

Sam leaned back in her chair. Alone with O’Neill. Her fingers tightened around her bottle. She should say something, but what? What on Earth could they talk about? They had so little in common. He didn’t like science, but science was all she knew.

 _Come on, think._ Wow, what was wrong with her?

O’Neill cleared his throat and nodded toward Vala and Daniel. “We should probably put an end to that, before they get thrown out for improper behavior.” He gave Sam a wry look.

She smiled at him. Both went quiet. O’Neill cleared his throat again. “So, Sam.”

Sam? That was new. Well, actually, it wasn’t, but it had become so rare for him to call her Sam… She leaned forward and studied his features.

„You have a boyfriend back home?”

She held her breath. “No boyfriend, sir.”

“Sam…” The way he drawled her name send pleasant shivers down her spine. “We’re not on duty. No need for ranks.” He leaned in.

“Jack.” She brushed a stubborn strand of hair behind her ear, then rested her chin on her hand.

“So, no boyfriend, huh?” He lifted the bottle to his mouth and swallowed. Sam’s eyes dropped to his tanned neck. She resisted the urge to lean in and run her tongue across his skin. What would he taste like? “Not even back home.”

His words snapped her out of her thoughts. Her cheeks flushed. “I used to have one.”

Okay, wrong turn of conversation. Images of Larek flooded her mind, and her heart ached. No reminders of who she used to be. She lowered her eyes to the silver in front of her.

“You broke up with him before you joined the resistance?”

“He broke it up.”

“Idiot.”

Sam’s head jerked up. He shifted in his seat and cleared his throat.

“Come on, you’re smart, you’re beautiful. Any man must be an idiot to break up with you.”

Wow. Her stomach fluttered as warmth flooded through her. Nobody had ever said anything like that to her. He sounded so genuine. She sank into his dark, bottomless gaze, and gave him a warm smile. “It doesn’t matter anymore. It’s over.”

“What happened?” He pulled his chair closer.

“He found out I’m gifted.” Her fingertips played on the opening of her beer bottle. “He’s Aschen. I believed him when he said he loved me. Cliché, I know.”

O’Neill remained silent.

It wasn’t uncommon for human females to fall in love with Aschen men, therefore he’d probably heard the story countless times. Everybody knew Aschen men regarded human women as nothing more than a welcome distraction from the much more restrained Aschen women. If only she’d paid attention to what people had told her. She should have been smarter, should have seen through the façade.

Sam took a large swallow of her beer. “You know, I’m grateful he broke up with me. Otherwise, I’d have never realized what the Aschen think of us humans.”

“What’s that?” He leaned in close. 

“That we’re no more than slaves.” Her fingers picked at the label on the bottle, then she looked up. “He was an idiot, you’re right about that.”

“You know, it’s ironic if you think about it.” A faint smile crossed his lips. “By joining our resistance, you might have increased our chances of succeeding by quite a bit. Sounds like that Aschen guy is responsible for your being here.”

She managed a weak smile. He wasn’t entirely wrong. Although, Larek’s rejection had only been one factor in her decision to run away from home. If her father hadn’t married her to some stranger behind her back, she might have stayed. Maybe they’d come up with a solution for that problem together.  Well, it didn’t matter anymore. Running away had opened up the opportunity to walk through the Stargate for her. Only two more days and her dream would come true.

She rested her chin on her hand. “So what about you?”

“What about me?”

“Any girlfriends?”

He chuckled. “ _Girlfriends_? Plural?”

Her cheeks warmed. “You know what I mean.”

He grinned. “No girlfriend.”

Wow. That was unexpected. “Really? Not even one? I mean, you’re… handsome and…” What. The. Hell. She cleared her throat. “You know.” Okay, she was seriously bad at this. Why was talking to him becoming so awkward?

He leaned in, his mouth so close to her cheek his warm breath washed over her skin. His scent was so intoxicating, fresh, uniquely him.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re flirting with me, Carter.” His voice came deep and warm against her ear.

She turned her head, her cheek brushing against his. “I was just thinking the same about you.”

O’Neill leaned back slightly, his face only inches from hers. “Busted.” His gaze lingered on her lips.

Sam held her breath, her heart pounding loud and fast. She reached out, fingers grazing the skin of his arms. He couldn’t… they couldn’t...

A mere inch between them. She smelled the faint trace of alcohol on his breath. What would he taste like if she crossed that last inch? How would he react? Her skin buzzed with awareness of him. Images of his hot naked body pressing against her filled her mind, his mouth kissing her all over.

If being this close to him had such an effect on her, what would happen if she took him to her bed? She bit her lower lip and shifted against the pressure building between her legs.

 _Not good. Not good at all._ She’d have to work with the man on a daily basis from now on. She was on his Stargate team. Was she out of her mind?

She leaned back in her chair, averting her gaze.

Daniel and Vala were still kissing, completely oblivious to the rest of the world. Nobody was paying any attention to them. Would anyone notice if she started kissing Jack right here? What would it feel like?

She tossed back the rest of her beer, but it didn’t distract her from his closeness.

“So.” She tried to sound nonchalant. “Why don’t you have a girlfriend?”

Jack’s lips tugged into a gentle smirk. He lifted his bottle to his mouth, his eyes remaining on her. “Maybe I am not good at seducing women.”

Sam gave a soft laugh. “You don’t expect me to believe that, do you?” When his eyebrows shot up, she leaned in. “You’re the one who claimed you don’t need drugs to get a woman when we first met.”

Chuckling, he got up from his chair. When he went behind her, he stopped and bent to her ear.

Sam froze, and she bit her lip at his unexpected closeness. “Apparently, I was wrong.” He straightened and walked over to the bar.

She jerked around and looked after him. What did he mean by those last words? Was that statement directed at her?

She waited for him to return, but Mitchell and four other camp members started talking to him close to the counter. Her heart dropped. His leaving shouldn’t bother her that much. She should be relieved.

What was she thinking, flirting with her camp commander like that? Did she expect to have a one-night-stand with him, and then tomorrow act as if nothing happened?

She hadn’t joined the resistance just to hook up with a guy. She wanted to be independent. She was finally getting there. Was she really going to risk it all just for a short-lived affair? 

Sam circled the opening of the bottle with her finger. Something about O’Neill drew her in. Never mind sex, getting close to him would be enough. Maybe kissing him. Exploring his naked skin with her fingers, her mouth. She groaned. This was bad.

“Hey.”

Sam jerked and turned her head. Janet crouched next to her chair.

“Hey. Where’ve you been?”

“Over at the bar with a couple of the guys. Sam, what are you doing?”

“What do you mean, what am I doing?”

Janet tipped her head towards Jack.

Sam raised her eyebrows. “I’m not doing anything.”

“Oh come on. I’ve been watching you two for the past five minutes. He’s totally into you.”

“He’s not.” Sam’s gaze shifted back to O’Neill. Was he really?

Janet closed her eyes and shook her head. “You really don’t have much experience with men do you?”

Great. Was it that obvious? Sam released a sigh. “No.”

“All the more reason to go over there and fix that.”

“Janet.” Sam put her head back. “That would be a very, very bad idea.”

“Why? You like him, don’t you?”

“I’ll admit he’s—” She looked at him again. Tall, muscular, broad shoulders, tanned skin. And his eyes. The way he’d looked at her. Her skin tingled. “—intoxicating.”

Janet smirked. “Why are you still sitting here, then?”

“Because I shouldn’t even be thinking of him like that.”

“You do realize he just put the ball in your court, right? Flirting with you, and then leaving like that? That’s classic O’Neill.”

Classic O’Neill? Oh God, had he and Janet…? “Are you experienced in his moves?”

“What? God, no. He’s not my type. But he used to be pretty popular with the ladies a while back. Every team night he hooked up with a girl.”

“Oh.” Sam’s stomach clenched. So, she was just another one of those pastimes for him. Well, what had she expected? Why was this bothering her so much?

“Don’t worry. He hasn’t done that in a while. I think last time he hooked up with a girl was a couple of years ago.”

“Oh.” So not just a pastime. Her insides warmed.

“Will you stop saying ‘oh’ and do something about it? Give him a sign that you’re interested.”

“Janet.” Sam put her hand on her friend’s shoulder. “I can’t. It would be wrong.”

“No.” Janet’s eyes shifted to a spot next to Sam. “ _That_ is wrong.”

Sam raised her eyebrows and turned her head. Oh boy. Vala and Daniel were practically dry-humping on the chair. She winced and turned her head away.

Janet scoffed. “They could at least be discreet about it. Hey!”

Sam laughed and nudged her. “Shhh.”

“The hell I will. What are they, teenagers? Vala!” Vala turned with raised eyebrows. “Get a room, for heaven’s sake.”

Grinning, Vala rolled her eyes in mock annoyance, then got up. She whispered something in Daniel’s ear and he followed her willingly as she dragged him towards a small corridor leading to the adjoining guesthouse.

“I can’t believe you just did that.” Sam laughed. “Daniel’s gonna kill us tomorrow. We should have broken them up, not encouraged them to get a room.”

“Oh please. He’s into her, he’s just too proud to admit it. Here.” She put her glass in front of Sam. “Drink up, and move your sexy ass over there to O’Neill. The adjoining guesthouse offers rooms for the night.”

“Janet.” Now that just sounded cheap. “I won’t.”

“Fine, your choice. I’m telling you, you’re way too tense. You need to get your mind out of those books, and enjoy life a little. Have fun. Nobody would think any less of you if you did. Especially not O’Neill.” Janet straightened. “I’m gonna leave with Eric, so you’ll either have to wait for Vala or walk back to camp with some of the guys. You know the way, right?”

“Yeah.” Sam nodded. “You go. Have fun. Enjoy yourself.”

Janet pushed the glass closer to her. “Take your own advice.”

She left, arm in arm with the younger ensign who had hit on her in the beginning. How could she be so easygoing about a relationship with people she worked with? Maybe Janet was right, and she was taking this whole thing too seriously. Sex wasn’t a big deal among non-gifted people.

Just that she had her future in the resistance to worry about, and she didn’t want to screw that up with relationship drama.

She looked back at Jack. He listened to an anecdote Mitchell was telling. Even among the group of men, he stood out. His stance, the serious expression on his face, everything about him exuded dominance.

She’d never felt this kind of attraction before. Larek and she had been together for over a year, but not once had she longed to feel his naked body against hers. Why was Jack so different? What was wrong with her?

He turned his head, and his gaze met hers. Sam jerked upright. His mouth twitched into a gentle smile, and he tilted his bottle towards her and motioned to the bar. Was he offering to get her another beer?

Sam shook her head and turned away. This was ridiculous. Janet was wrong, he was not waiting for a sign from her. They were colleagues. He was just being nice. Or was he? If only there was a way she could turn her brain of. Janet had a point, she did overthink situations.

Releasing a sigh, she picked up her drink and downed the contents at once.

Okay, all or nothing. She lifted from her chair, grabbing the backrest. The room spun. Oh, yes, definitely way too much alcohol in her blood.

When the room stabilized and her balance returned, she made her way over to the small group of soldiers, then pushed through the crowd behind Jack. Her hand grazed his back as she passed by him. The heat of his body radiated through his shirt. Interesting. Electricity raced through her at the point of contact. 

She leaned into him to brush her lips against his ear, her fingers touching his shoulder. She trembled as his palm moved to her waist, steadying her, pulling her against him slightly. His eyes locked with hers, intense.

He was into her, Janet had been right. She cocked her head and studied his face. His pupils dilated. She laid her hand on his chest. His heart raced under her palm. Okay, she’d read about the physical signs of attraction. This was easy.

“Jack.” A whisper in his ear.

“What?” He smiled, his head turning, gaze holding hers.

She stared at his lips. She needed to kiss him, taste him.

Somebody ran into her from behind and shoved her against his body. His grip on her waist tightened. A warm embrace. So protective. 

A hint of dizziness swam through her. “I want you.” Barely a rasp. Her lips grazed his jaw before she let go of him. She didn’t want to kiss him here.

On unsteady feet, she moved through the room towards the corridor leading to the adjoining house. She stumbled into someone and steadied herself against the counter at the last second. Oh, this wasn’t good.

She didn’t want to feel the world spin when she had sex for the first time.

Sex. She was going to have sex. What would it be like? Her stomach tightened. She was going to get naked with a man and he would… Oh god. What if she couldn’t live up to his expectations? What if it hurt?

She swallowed. Once she was in one of the private rooms with him, there’d be no turning back. And tomorrow?

She turned and stumbled toward the exit door alone. Once outside, the crisp night air hit her like a splash of cold water. She pushed through a group of soldiers smoking and trying to avoid the rain still coming down in soft but persistent drops.

Sam moved a few meters away from the door, and slowed down. She wrapped her arms around herself and closed her eyes against the cooling rain.

Once she reached the little alley next to the bar, she entered it and leaned her back against the cold stone wall of the house. Closing her eyes she put her head back. Drop after drop hit her cheeks. They trickled down her neck, between her breasts, racing along her oversensitive skin. She groaned.

Rain pelted down on the pavement, plinking against roofs, splattering against the leaves of the trees. Distant chatter carried over from the bar. Hearty laughs, a door opening, banging shut. The fresh smell of wet grass…

Sam grazed one of her hands along her neck and nearly startled at the touch. Every part of her yearned to be touched. Jack. She pictured his eyes, his face, his body against hers. With a moan, she pressed herself against the wall.

Steps. Then a warm body standing close to hers, strong hands resting on her hips, lingering.

Sam leaned in. She didn’t have to open her eyes to know it was him. His scent surrounded her, his warm breath fanning the moist skin of her face.

Her eyelids fluttered open. Jack’s dark eyes burned into hers. Fire blazed through her veins.

“Hey.” His deep voice was a warm caress against her lips.

“Jack.” She stared at his mouth. She pushed herself away from the wall, her hands resting on his chest. Heat radiated from him. She went up on her toes to graze her lips against his. Jolts of electricity shot through her.

His grip on her waist tightened as he stepped against her, his lips barely teasing hers, then evading when she tried to deepen the kiss. She whimpered, and he captured her mouth, long and lingering this time. A lot more demanding than she’d been. His tongue danced with hers. He tasted like alcohol and mint, and something else. Something uniquely him. Irresistible. She sighed into the kiss.

He placed his hands against the wall, pinning her body between him and the cold stone surface. Sam tangled her fingers in the sides of his shirt, the hard planes of his muscular chest pressing against her breasts.

More, she needed more. She arched into him. Heat jolted through her and pooled in her abdomen. Goosebumps spread across her skin. She groaned, the sound muffled by his mouth. How had she not known her body was capable of reacting like this?

Her hand brushed over his upper arm against his naked skin. Jack broke the kiss, his breath mingling with hers. She arched up, needing his mouth on hers. He pulled back just enough.

Jack held her steady against the wall and slid one of his legs between hers, then moved her hips against his. Sam’s breath caught when his leg eased the pressure building in her core. She writhed against him and broke away from his lips with a gasp at the pleasure coursing through her.

His lips left a trail of kisses along her jawline to her ear. His tongue flicked out to tease her earlobe, as his hand gripped her knee and brought it up to his hip.

“Oh God.” She let her head fall back against the wall, offering more of her skin for his exploration.

“Sam.” His breath washed hot against her neck. “Damn, you’re so beautiful.”

Beautiful. She’d never thought of herself as beautiful. His hand moved up, grazing the side of her breast through the dress. How could his body be so warm, so strong, so addictive.

His lips closed over a particularly sensitive spot under her ear. She curled her finger at his nape.

“Jack…” He lifted his head, gaze seeking hers. She cupped his face, then traced a scar on his neck. “More, please...”

A low growl escaped him, his hips thrusting against hers. Her breath hitched when his hardness brushed against her. Her hands flew down to hook in the waistband of his pants.

Jack looked around, then bent to her ear. “Come with me.” Enlacing their fingers, he pulled her further into the street toward the backdoor of the bar.

Wooden boxes stood next to the entrance. Sam gave a surprised chuckle when he lifted her and set her on top of one of them. Just the right height. She pulled him close, her legs wrapping around his hips as his mouth found hers again.

She moaned into the kiss. He shoved her skirt to her hips and ran his warm palms over her naked skin, across her thighs. 

She pressed her core against him, her previous shyness forgotten. She needed to feel him, needed to do something about the building ache between her legs. Experiencing her first time in the pouring rain against a wall in a dirty back alley hadn’t been on her agenda, but she wasn’t complaining.

Each touch from him erased more of the doubts and concerns nagging at her. She pulled his shirt up, her hands finding their way up his naked chest. She wasn’t about to turn back now.

 

***

 

Jack groaned when her trembling fingers grazed his chest. She couldn’t have much experience. Not that he was complaining. He loved the way she moved against him, how she tried to pull him closer, how her body trembled under his touch.

He slowed his kisses. Inexperienced or not, he’d have her writhe and scream in pleasure.

He pulled her so close against him her hips were barely resting on the box. Just for balance. Having her fall wouldn’t exactly be one of his best moves.

His hands drove under her skirt to graze her hips. Her breath hitched. 

Maybe they should move this to a room. Somewhere more private, more tasteful, where they’d have a bed and he could do this properly.

She jerked against him, her fingers fumbling at the button of his pants. Okay, maybe not. Apparently, she was just as impatient as he was.

Jack slipped his hand in between them to her center. She gave the sweetest whimper he’d ever heard from a woman.

Damn, he bet he _could_ make her scream for him. He lifted his head. Her eyes were closed, her lips slightly parted, chest heaving. So hot. So beautiful. He gentled his touch.

Her eyes flew open as his fingers moved inside her panties, brushed along her naked core. She gripped his arms. The sweetest sound of pleasure left her when his fingers found her clit. God, after they were done here, he’d take her to one of the rooms, undress her and make love to her the way she deserved. No way was he letting her go tonight.

She buried her head against his neck to muffle her whimpers. His fingers kept circling the little bundle of nerves.

“God, Sam.” He buried his face in her hair, her scent engulfing him. How willingly she gave herself over to him. He wanted to have her, all of her. Wanted to learn her, hear the sounds she’d make when she came for him. Wanted to lose himself deep inside her.

The fantasy was almost enough to make him lose it. Never before had he been so addicted to a woman, to her body, to every sound he drew from her. Her fingers gripped at his arms, her shallow breath washing against his neck. She was so responsive, so close.

Her tongue flicked out and he groaned when she kissed the skin right above his jugular, tasted him, teased him. He moved two fingers through her arousal to her entrance.

She tensed and whimpered against him, her hands clenching his shoulders. Anticipation? Something was off, though. He pressed one finger against her. Same reaction.

The realization came like a splash of cold water. Damn, she wasn’t just inexperienced. She’d never done this before. Emotions washed over him. His arousal intensified.

He should have figured. She was twenty-five. Not every human ignored the sexual restrictions law the way he’d done.

What was he doing here? He was a married man. And he was about to have rushed sex against the dirty wall of a house with a woman who’d consider this her first sexual experience.

She was a subordinate and member of his team, for crying out loud. He was in the process of losing himself in her. And from the looks of it, the feeling was mutual. This couldn’t happen. He couldn’t do that to her. Whether his marriage was gonna be valid or would just exist on paper, he had to tell her the truth, and wait until he’d heard from Jacob on the matter.

God, his mind was fixated on so much more than just a quick, hot fuck. When the hell had that happened? She deserved better than this. Better than him.

“Sam.” He withdrew his hand from her center and she relaxed against him. She clutched his shirt in trembling fingers.

“Don’t stop now.”

He lifted his head and looked in her eyes. Desire. Need. He held his breath and swallowed hard. “Have you done this before?”

She looked at him, her mind obviously needing a moment to process the words. Then a breathless laugh. “Not exactly. But I’m a quick study.” She nipped his lower lip.

Jack groaned. Quick study. Of course she would be. Eager to learn too, probably. Damn, the things he could teach her. The fun they could have. Bad, bad thoughts. He closed his eyes and pulled her close to press a gentle, longing kiss against her forehead.

“We can’t do this.”

She leaned back and stared at him. “Did I do something wrong?”

He tightened his hold on her, unwilling to let go. _Yeah, probably sending mixed signals here, O’Neill._ “No, it’s not your fault.”

“Oh. Then why…?”

Jack took a deep breath. “I’m married.” Best to do it quick.

She froze against him, her jaw dropping.

“I’m sorry.” Lamest apology ever. He was probably up for a jerk of the year award. He really should have thought this through. He sighed. “I shouldn’t have started this. We’re both drunk, although I am probably a lot less drunk than you. My point is, I wasn’t exactly thinking with my head, and now that I am… This really isn’t fair to you.”

His body shuddered at her proximity. Why hadn’t he just gone through with it? Just one night with her. He could have moved it to one of the rooms, and made love to her. His body needed her with such fervor, he wondered for a moment if he was going insane.

“I…” Sam placed her hands on his chest and pushed softly. Jack stepped back to give her space. “I didn’t know you were… Nobody told me about… I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have… ” Her voice trailed off again. “God, I feel so stupid.”

“Don’t.” He murmured against her hair. “You didn’t do anything wrong. If anybody’s to blame, it’s me. I got a bit lost in you. You deserve better than this, especially for the first time. If I’d known, I wouldn’t even have…”

How could he let it get this far? He of all people? He was the one with the strict rule never to hook up with subordinates. Why hadn’t he just obeyed his own damn rule?

Sam slid down the box. “I see.”

Jack steadied her when she tumbled slightly. Yep, definitely still drunk. Damn. He turned to give her privacy to rearrange her skirt.

“Sam, you okay?” He heard her fumble behind him.

“Yeah. Sure. Nothing to worry about. Right? Sir?”

  1. He flinched inwardly at the formal address. She was fighting to regain control over the situation. He’d hurt her, and she was desperately trying not to show it. God, he couldn’t believe he’d been so damn stupid to allow things to get so out of hand.



He turned. “I shouldn’t have put you in this position. Carter, I’m sorry.”

She evaded his touch when he placed his hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t touch me. Sir, please.” She pressed her lips together. Her eyes shimmered. Were those tears? Jack’s stomach clenched. “I just want to go back inside. Can we do that?”

“Of course.”

Slowly, they went back through the small alley. Before they were about to pass onto the main street, Jack grabbed her wrist. She turned to face him.

“Are we gonna be okay, Carter? I’d understand if you preferred to be assigned to another team. I can switch you and McKay if you’d rather work on Sheppard’s team instead of…”

“No sir.” She shook her head. “We’re both drunk, sir. We didn’t really do anything. I mean except…” She blushed and winced, apparently realizing just how far she’d allowed him to go.

Jack squeezed her arm. “It’s ok. You’re right. Nothing happened. We’ll just forget about it.” Yeah. Good luck with that. He’d never forget the way she felt against him, or how responsive she was. For crying out loud, why had he agreed to sign that stupid marriage contract? If only he’d known he’d meet a woman like Carter. “Really bad timing on my part to drop the marriage thing, huh?”

“Yeah. I wish you’d mentioned that earlier. I asked you about girlfriends.”

She had. It hadn’t even occurred to him to mention his wife. The marriage had just slipped his mind. Besides, he’d never actually expected her to be interested in him. He’d assumed she was just flirting.

“It slipped my mind.”

“You forgot you were married?” She folded her arms, eyebrows raised.

“It’s complicated.” _Lame excuse, jerk of the year._ “You ready to go back inside?”

“Yes, sir.” She straightened and they walked back to O’Malley’s.


	14. Dancing With A Broken Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the new version of "Stargate Aschen", completely revised style-wise. 
> 
> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> Also, this version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

“Ugh…”

Sam opened her eyes. A thud sounded from somewhere, then another stifled, tortured moan. She leaned up on her forearms and looked through half-closed eyes over at Vala. Her friend lay face down and fully-clothed on her bed.

“Vala, are you okay?”

Another moan.

Janet shifted in her sleeping bag. “Shhh… My head is killing me.”

“Sorry.” Sam sat up. Her stomach turned and she leaned over, waiting until the world stopped spinning. “I think Vala needs help.”

“Ugh.” Janet sat up, blinking at Sam, before her eyes shifted to Vala. “God.” Cursing, the doctor rolled out from under her blanket and crawled over to the unconscious woman. Carefully, she turned her onto her back.

“Vala.” She slapped Vala’s cheek gently, then harder.

Vala opened her eyes and grinned brightly. “Hey, Janet.” Her head fell to the side and she started snoring.

Janet sat on her heels and pressed her palms against her eyes. “She’s fine, just completely wasted. She probably only just got back.”

Sam glanced at the clock. “It’s nine in the morning.” Exhausted, she lay back against her pillow and closed her eyes. She shouldn’t have done those shots of Tequila with Sheppard last night.

“Yeah, well, it’s Vala. She was probably with Daniel.” Janet got up and stumbled to the exit. “I need coffee. Lots of it. And painkillers.”

Sam’s eyes shot open. Coffee sounded good. Painkillers even better. Her head pounded. Groaning, she rolled out of her sleeping bag and followed Janet.

The crisp morning air cleared her head a little. On bare feet, she hurried through the wet grass until she reached the medical tent. Janet searched through the bottles of pills on one of the shelves. Finally, she handed two of them and a bottle of water to Sam, then took the same for herself and sat on a bed.

“I haven’t been this hung-over since Daniel’s birthday party three years ago.” She dropped onto one of the field beds. “My head is killing me.”

Sam swallowed the pills and looked down at the bottle in her hands. Images of the previous night flooded her mind and she closed her eyes with a groan. She’d practically thrown herself at her camp commander. They’d made out… Then it had ended in total disaster. Oh God, how was she supposed to look at him again?

“You okay?” Janet’s voice made her look up.

She nodded. “Yeah, just a little nauseous.”

Janet grinned. “Rough night?”

“Oh, you have no idea.” Sam took a huge gulp of water.

“Actually, I kinda do. I heard O’Neill and you disappeared in a back alley for about half an hour.”

Sam stared at her. Damn, how did she know about that? Hadn’t Jack agreed not to talk about the situation anymore?

Janet shrugged. “The soldiers smoking outside the bar saw you two. Gossip travels at the speed of light here, you gotta get used to it.” She laughed, then winced, her hand pressing against her temple. “So, how was it?”

“Nothing happened.”

“Oh come on, Sammie…” Janet grinned at her. “You can tell me.”

Sam cocked her head and frowned at her. Talking about what had happened was the last thing she wanted, but Janet probably wouldn’t let it go unless she got some information. 

“We made out.”

“Just making out?” Janet chuckled.

“Yes.” Sam scowled at her and took another sip of water.

“Oh.” Janet said, concern flashing in her eyes. “He didn’t even try to—?”

“Just let it go, Janet.” She immediately regretted her harsh tone. Then again, the situation was partly Janet’s fault. Instead of encouraging her to go after O’Neill, she should have told her he was married.

“Everything okay?”

“No, Janet, everything isn’t okay. Everybody knows about O’Neill and me hours after it happened, yet nobody bothered to mention he’s married. I’ve been here for almost four months.” Another sip of water. Her headache slowly faded.

Janet stared at her. “Say what?”

“God, I wouldn’t have flirted with him if I’d had any idea. I thought we’re friends, why didn’t you tell me?”

Janet got up and sat down on the field bed next to Sam. “Calm down. What on Earth are you talking about?”

“O’Neill. He’s married.” She looked down to stare at the bottle in her head and sighed. Why did it sting so much to say it aloud?

“Um.” Janet shook her head, her eyes wide. “No, he’s not.”

“Yes, he is. He told me last night while we were…when we were…” Her cheeks heated. Yeah, there was really no need to give Janet all the details of how far they’d actually gone. The situation was bad enough.

“O’Neill? Jack O’Neill? Our base commander?”

“Yes.”

“That must have been a misunderstanding. You sure that’s what he said? You were drunk, so—”

Sam jerked her head up. “I wasn’t that out of it. O’Neill said he was married.”

“While you were…”

“Well, before we did anything really.” She flinched and closed her eyes. “God, this is so embarrassing. What the hell is the matter with me. I can’t believe I let you talk me into that.”

Nausea returned. How was she supposed to look O’Neill in the eye and not think about what happened? How was she supposed to work with him? ~~~~

“Sam, he isn’t married,” Janet said after a long moment of silence.

Sam stared at her. Not married? “What?”

“He used to be married, but his son died in an accident, and his wife disappeared soon after. He’s divorced. He’s not married.” Janet shook her head. “He really told you he was married to get out of...” She swallowed hard. “I can’t believe that.”

“Oh. God.” Sam clenched the blanket on the bed. He’d lied to her. To get out of having sex with her. What could she have possibly done wrong for him to do that? Had she come on too strongly? Had she misread his signals? Her stomach clenched. But why hadn’t he just told her that he wasn’t interested?

She’d thought he liked her. Her cheeks burned and she pulled her knees up to bury her face against them.

“I’m so stupid. I can’t believe… I think I’m gonna be sick.”

“Oooh…. Sam…” Janet jumped up and rushed to get one of the buckets standing in a corner.

A few minutes later when her stomach was empty, Sam sat shaking on the bed. Janet rubbed her arms to warm her up.

“I’m sorry I encouraged you to pursue him. I swear, I had no idea, he’d be such a jerk. You two seemed to get along, and I thought there was mutual attraction between you. I just wanted both of you to focus on something other than work for a night.”

Sam released a shaky breath. Her eyes stung and she wiped them with a tissue Janet handed her. So O’Neill was a jerk, no big deal.

She was in the resistance to go through the Stargate and fight against the Aschen, not to hook up with a guy. Nothing in his flirtations had indicated she should hope for more than a quick adventure, so why did his rejection feel so much like betrayal?

“I’m sorry.” Her breath hitched, her throat tight. She wiped her eyes again. Great, now she was weeping like a teenager over some guy. “This is ridiculous. I don’t know why I can’t stop crying.”

“He hurt you, Sam.”

Sam shook her head. “It shouldn’t be such a big deal. I never wanted to pursue him in the first place. If it hadn’t been for the alcohol…”

“It’s not just physical, is it?” Janet straightened and stared at her. “Oh my God. You really _like_ him.”

Sam closed her eyes. If only it weren’t true.

Janet pulled her into a warm hug. “What do you wanna do?”

Sam played with her tissue. O’Neill had turned her down. All she could do was take what was left of her pride and move on. Just as she’d done after Larek had broken up with her.

The episode with Jack had been nothing more than a short detour. Yes, they’d kissed, but they hadn’t had sex. And he had never mentioned that he reciprocated any feelings she might hold. “Nothing.”

Janet blinked at her.

She pressed her lips together. “I won’t do anything. I was looking forward to working on SG-1, and I still am. We said we wouldn’t let this interfere with our work, and I won’t. He didn’t want to be with me, and I won’t make a scene. And I certainly won’t beg him to change his mind.”

She’d learned her lesson, once and for all. From now on, she’d stay away from O’Neill—at least privately.

“But…”

“Janet, just drop it. Nothing happened.”

Janet bristled. “But something did happen.”

“Shhh.” Sam scowled at her. “Keep your voice down. This needs to stay between us. It doesn’t mean anything.”

“It means he’s a jerk.”

“It doesn’t matter.” She straightened. Whatever had happened last night between O’Neill and her had been a drunken mistake—nothing more. She had to focus all her mind on what really made her happy. Work. Science. The Stargate. “I appreciate your concern Janet, really.”

“Okay.” Janet lifted her hands in capitulation. “It’s your choice. I still think he behaved like a giant bastard, and if I were you I’d give him a piece of my mind.”

Sam shook her head and got up from the bed. “I’ll be fine.”

It was nothing she hadn’t handled before.

 

***

 

“Jack.” Daniel slipped into the command tent.

Jack looked up and raised his eyebrows at the odd expression on the archeologist’s face. “Daniel?”

“How’s things?”

“Great.” Jack nodded. “You?”

“Wonderful.”

“So you and Vala…” Jack waved his hand to indicate the new status of their relationship.

Daniel nodded. “Yeah, well, we’ll see where it goes.” He sat down on one of the boxes and studied Jack for a long moment. “So, you and Sam?”

Jack groaned and frowned at him. He’d known something was up. Daniel never entered his tent so nonchalantly unless he had an ulterior motive. Apparently, this was one of those dreaded moments where the archeologist wanted him to spill his emotional guts.

“Where did you hear that?”

“Everybody knows.”

Crap. Exactly what he’d wanted to avoid. Carter shouldn’t have to deal with rumors about her hooking up with him.

“What happened?” Daniel folded his arms.

“What do you mean, what happened?”

“Well, for starters, Sam was crying this morning.” Daniel leaned back as if he were chatting about the weather.

Jack tried to keep a blank look on his face when his stomach tightened. She’d been crying. Because of what he’d done to her. Crap. Crap. Crap. He was such an idiot.

“Is she alright?”

“Is she _alright_?” Daniel’s brows furrowed. “She was crying, Jack, what do you think? You told the woman you were married while you were making out.”

Why the hell did he even ask questions if he knew everything already? Jack glared at him. Maybe he should put a new ban on gossip in place and just throw anybody out who acted against it. The speed with which information spread at camp was just ridiculous. “Did Carter tell you?”

“No.” Daniel shook his head. “I overheard her and Janet talking this morning when I went to get some painkillers from the medical tent. Sam asked Janet not to tell anyone. They don’t know I know.”

Jack put his pen down and pressed his palms against his eyes. “I’ll trust you to keep it to yourself.”

“Don’t worry.” Daniel leaned forward. “I’d be more worried about Sam if I were you. Janet told her you aren’t married. Sam’s calmed down now, but it sounded like she’s pretty cut up about it. What on Earth were you thinking, telling her that?”

Jack’s head snapped up. “Janet told her…what?”

Daniel huffed. “What, did you think you could keep it a secret? They’re friends, Jack. You had to realize she’d find out the truth. God, sometimes you can be so-so-so damn—”

“Daniel, I _am_ married.” Great, so now that secret was out as well.

Daniel blinked. “You what?”

“I’m married. Have been for over five months.”

Daniel pushed his glasses further up on his nose and folded his arms. “And my invitation got lost in the mail?”

“It wasn’t a formal ceremony. It wasn’t even anything romantic.” Jack sighed. “I agreed to marry the daughter of an old friend of mine. I don’t even know the girl. I’ve never met her. It was a necessary arrangement to protect her from the breeding system. Let’s just leave it at that.”

Daniel’s eyes widened. “A forced arrangement?” Reproach tinged his voice. Exactly why he had refrained from telling him until now.

“Yes. Believe me, I wasn’t happy about it, either. At this point, I don’t even know whether the marriage will only be valid on paper, or whether we’ll try to work it out. I wanted to handle the matter discreetly. But then last night… It didn’t seem fair to Carter.” This whole conversation was giving him a headache. Or maybe it was the nagging thought of what she had to think of him now. “Janet told her I lied to her?”

“Yeah.” Daniel groaned. “She doesn’t know you were telling the truth. Jack, you should have told me. I’m your friend.”

“I would’ve as soon as things were finalized. After I’d talked to Jacob and met his daughter. We’ve been pretty busy here with training the new recruits and the latest Stargate missions, so I didn’t get a chance to go to Powhatan City again.”

“I didn’t even know Jacob had a daughter.” Daniel folded his arms. “What’s her name?”

Jack raised his eyebrows, his mind going blank.

Daniel closed his eyes. “Jack, please tell me you at least know the girl’s name.”

“I didn’t really read the contract. I just put my signature under it.” Now that did make him sound like an ass. Daniel had a point, he should have at least checked for the girl’s name. “You know how I feel about unnecessary paperwork and bureaucracy.”

“Unnecessary paperwork?” Daniel shook his head, mouth working soundlessly for a moment. “It’s your marriage contract.”

“I know.” Jack took a deep breath.

His thoughts returned to Carter. Damn, the situation had become so complicated. He should have thought about that before telling her about his marriage. “God, Carter must think I’m a complete—”

Daniel glowered at him. “Ass? Jerk? Son of a—”

“I get the point, thanks.” Jack groaned. “I really didn’t mean to hurt her.”

“Why did you even let it get that far if you’re married?” Daniel got up and paced the tent. “Jack, she’s my friend. You’re my friend.”

Jack stood as well. “I didn’t think, okay? It’s not like I planned on seducing her. It just kinda… happened. I didn’t think...“ He ran his hands over his face. “I didn’t think it would be this hard to stay away from her.”

Daniel’s head jerked around and he studied Jack for a long moment. “You could always annul the marriage contract. If you’ve never seen your bride before, it shouldn’t be a problem. Especially since you didn’t even bother to read the damn thing.”

“Not an option. I gave Jacob my word. Besides, it would have severe consequences for his daughter. I wouldn’t want to do that to anybody, least of all a woman. I told you what happens in the breeding facility.”

Daniel sighed. “Well, if I were you, I’d go talk to Sam. Tell her the truth. At the moment, she and Janet both think you’re the biggest ass on the face of this planet.”

Yeah, well, who could blame them? Carter had to assume he’d made the marriage up to get out of sleeping with her. Damn. But maybe that wasn’t entirely a bad thing, given the situation.

If she hated him, at least she’d stay away from him. No more beaming smiles, or friendly conversation. No more reminders of how much he wanted to drag her into a tent and explore every inch of her body with his mouth until she screamed in pleasure under him. Bad train of thought.

“I won’t talk to her.”

“Why?” Daniel stared at him. “Jack, if you care about her—”

Jack sat back down and looked at the report he’d been busy reading when Daniel had entered. “If she thinks I’m an idiot, at least she’ll stay away from me.”

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard, even from you.”

“Daniel.” He glared at his friend. “If word of my marriage gets out, I’ll shoot you.”

“Jack, we’ll both work with Sam from now on. Aren’t you scared she’ll shoot you from behind in the field?”

“No.” Jack looked back down. “Carter’ll keep it professional. I gave her the option to switch to another team last night, and she didn’t take it. She’ll do whatever is necessary. And so will I.”

“You know, sometimes I worry about you. You don’t even care for the feelings of the people around you.”

“You think it would be better to go to her and tell her I didn’t lie? That I care about her, a lot more than I’m supposed to, but that we can’t be together because I’m legally bound to another woman?” He shook his head. “This way she can have closure. Let her hate me. It’ll make things easier for her.”

“Closure?” Daniel scratched his head. “What kind of closure is that?”

“She’ll get over it. Then she’ll have closure. Just give it a few days.” This line of conversation was seriously beginning to annoy him. Why the hell did Daniel always get involved in his business? Some days he really just wanted to punch some sense into his friend. “If you’ll excuse me now, I have reports to review.”

After one last glare, Daniel turned and left the tent. Jack dropped his pen and closed his eyes.

Carter had cried. Because of him. Of all the things, hurting her had been last on his mind. If only he hadn’t signed that damn contract. Then he could have just taken her to one of the guesthouse rooms, locked the door and not let her go until they were both sated and falling asleep in each other’s arms. This morning he’d have taken her out for breakfast and talked about how to proceed.

What the hell was going on with him? Since when did his fantasies about a woman involve cuddling and breakfast?

He should have listened to the alarms going off in his head, and not even flirted with her in the first place. Not in his wildest dreams had he imagined the possibility she might be into him. Damn, he’d wanted her so bad. He still wanted her.

His only option was keeping distance from her. 

 

***

 

Sam took one last deep breath and straightened. She checked the weapons at her belt for the umpteenth time. This was the day. Her first trip through the Stargate. She’d dreamed of this her entire life. Finally she’d get what she’d always wanted.

She’d meet with the rest of SG-1 at the Stargate in exactly ten minutes. 

Her hand touched the mosquito net in front of the entrance, and she faltered. For the first time since O’Malley’s, she’d see O’Neill. Her heart ached and she swallowed. Would he treat her any different? Would she be able to look at him? She had to stay in control of her emotions.

She was happy. Happy. Forcing a smile onto her face, she stepped outside and hurried through camp towards the narrow path leading to the Stargate in the forest.

She could do this. It was no different from having to hide her anger with Mitchell or Hanson during boot camp training. A broken heart didn’t kill. The feeling would cease after a few days, maybe a week.

Daniel was already at the Stargate, going through a list in his hand and looking through a few boxes. He glanced up when she approached.

“Hey.” Why did he look so concerned? “You okay?”

“Yes.” Sam gave him her practiced smile. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Right.” Daniel’s gaze rested on her for another moment, then he lowered his eyes to the list again. “Do you mind helping me go through this shipment? We’ll have to check if we packed everything.”

“Sure.” Sam dropped her backpack and took the second list he handed her.

Five minutes later, by the time O’Neill arrived in his full mission gear, the shipment was ready and checked.

O’Neill wished them a cheerful good morning. Sam didn’t look at him while she fastened the list at the side of one of the boxes.

“This’ll be a simple delivery mission. I know, Daniel, you’re not thrilled about this, but since it’ll be Carter’s first trip through the gate, we should keep it easy.”

Her eyes narrowed. Really? He thought she could only handle delivery missions? _Jerk._ “I assure you, sir, you don’t have to assign us the easy missions on my account. I’m more than capable of handling whatever you throw at me.”

Her gaze met his. Rage was good. At least it hid her pain.

O’Neill cleared his throat. “Daniel, dial the gate.”

When the archeologist walked over to the dialing device, O’Neill approached her.

“Carter.” She looked at him, eyebrows raised at his lowered voice. “I know what you think of me. You gotta believe I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

She folded her arms. “Hurt me, sir?” Her voice sounded cold even to her own ears. “Please, don’t flatter yourself. You’re overestimating the significance of the incident. It was just fun. Nothing to dwell on.”

She didn’t flinch as he scanned her face. For a moment it looked as though he would say something more. But then the event horizon of the Stargate opened: a blue splash in the dimness of the forest.

Sam turned away from him and looked at the crystalline surface. Like the surface of water with sparkling blue waves rippling through it. “Wow.”

“Wow indeed.” She felt O’Neill’s gaze on her, and for just a second, she caught the gentleness in his eyes before he put his sunglasses on. “Alright people, let’s move out.”

Sam looked after him as he walked towards the gate and then dematerialized in the event horizon. She helped Daniel push the shipment through, then stopped and looked at the sparkling surface in front of her.

“This is incredible.” Her fingers reached out to touch the gleaming blue ripples. Her fingertips tingled as they made contact, then she put her hand in. “You can actually see the fluctuation in the event horizon.”

Her hand buzzed at the dematerialization. That had to be the nerve endings in her arm reacting to the process.

“Fascinating, isn’t it?” Daniel grinned.

Sam flashed him a happy smile. “It’s even more beautiful than I thought.”

He laughed, and hit her shoulder. “Don’t take too long. Jack doesn’t like to wait.”

With those words, he disappeared in the blue puddle. Sam turned to take a last look at the quiet forest around her.

This was it. Everything she’d endured up to now had led her to this moment. A deep peace settled inside her. It had been worth it. Everything had been worth it. She _was_ happy.

Heart jumping, she stepped into the event horizon.


	15. Brave

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the new version of "Stargate Aschen", completely revised style-wise. 
> 
> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> Also, this version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

_2 months later_

 

“Morris, come in.” Jack pressed the button on his radio while looking around the landscape that surrounded the small pyramid. Nothing but clear fields and the tree line in the distance.

Static sounded over the radio, then Morris’s distorted voice. “Copy, sir.”

“How’s the gate?”

“Clear and quiet, sir. Just as it’s been the past couple of days.”

“Keep watching. Two hours and thirty-five minutes left. We’ll pack up here soon and join you. O’Neill out.”

“Copy that, sir.”

The radio crackled and went quiet. Jack sighed and scanned the surroundings one more time.

For the past nine and a half hours nothing had happened. No signs of humans on this planet. Or wild animals. Squat.

Carter and Daniel delved into the largest rooms of the pyramid. Not for the first time today he wished he could share their enthusiasm for rocks and doohickeys. At least he’d have something to do. But to him it was just a lot of old stones and buildings, slowly crumbling. And maybe some weird doodles courtesy of some stranger in the past.

He turned and strolled through the grass into the inner court of the building complex where he looked around. Daniel was still working on the inscriptions he’d found on one of the pillars.

He already knew where Carter was. She’d spent the whole morning in one of the rooms Daniel had identified as a burial chamber.

During the course of the last two months, his relationship with her had improved. She seemed careful not to get too close to him, but he couldn’t blame her for that. After what he’d done, he’d stay away from himself if he could.

Sometimes, she bantered with him or laughed at one of his wry jokes. All of which shouldn’t make his heart beat faster. Yet, every time…

Too bad her smiles only reminded him of his attraction to her. Not that he ever needed a reminder for that.  Which was surprising.

Romance, or the idea of falling for a woman, had never occurred to him. Work in the resistance was his life. His devotion and initially reckless behavior had earned him quick promotions. Finding women had never been a problem, so why was what happened with Carter so different? What was it about her that drew him in?

If things had been different, if he hadn’t agreed to marry Jacob’s daughter, he would have definitely taken a chance on Carter.

Jack entered the burial chamber. The room was dimly lit, and for the gazillionth time he wondered why anybody would enjoy spending a whole day in a dusty, dark place like this.

Carter was kneeling, working on one of the back walls. A stone drawer, which had apparently been hidden in the wall, was pulled open. She’d hooked up her…her…something to the wall, and stared at a little monitor.

“Still enjoying your doohickeys, I see.” He placed his P-90 on the large stone sarcophagus in the middle of the room. Carter gave him an absent smile. Damn, even her distracted smiles were gorgeous.

“This is really fascinating, sir. There’s some kind of technology operating this wall.”

Fascinating. One of these days they’d have to have a serious discussion about the meaning of that word.

“Yeah, well, just don’t get too caught up in it. You have one hour left. Then I want you geared up and ready to walk back to the gate.”

“Yes, sir.” Another one of those smiles. Sometimes he swore she did it on purpose to drive him nuts.

He still remembered that look on her face when she’d seen the Stargate open for the first time. That beaming smile and the sparkle in her eyes. Like a kid going to a fair for the first time.

“Well, I’m gonna go back outside to count rocks.” He scraped his hand through his hair. “Keep an eye on Daniel, will y—?”

A low rumbling from the wall interrupted him as it slowly moved down, revealing a brightly lit shelf. Now that didn’t look like old stones at all anymore.

“Wow.” Jack stepped closer, eyebrows raised. “How’d you do that?”

“I’m not entirely sure, sir.” Sam rose from her kneeling position, her eyes wide as she looked at the shelf. She wiped her dusty hands on her khakis and then brushed some dust out of her short hair. “I was trying to override the power to find out where the wall drew it from.”

Jack stuck his hands in his pockets. A silvery-black metal device, shaped abstractly like an _S_ , lay on one of the lit shelves. Odd little patterns decorated the sides and the metal grip of the device. Surely Daniel would have fun analyzing that.

“What is it?” He came to stand next to her and bent forward to study the piece.

She turned her head and he caught her gaze from the corner of his eye. Her nose almost brushed his. He raised his eyebrows at her. She swallowed visibly. “Um…I don’t know.”

Clearing his throat, Jack straightened. Carter reached out to pick the thing up and weighed it in her hands.

“Cold, and heavy. Definitely technology. Maybe some kind of alien computer.”

“Any chance it’s the energy source that’s powering this… shelf-thing?” He waved at the wall.

“I don’t think so, sir. It wasn’t connected to the shelf.” She turned the device over and pushed a button at the side of it. With a click, the top part snapped upwards. “It might be a key of some kind. I’m sure Daniel will…”

Another click, then a jolt of energy discharged from the tip of the device. Pain shot through Jack’s body, then he hit the ground and the room went black.

 

***

 

“Oh my God! Sir!”

Sam rushed to O’Neill’s side. Blood drained from her face when her superior officer didn’t move.

Daniel stormed into the burial chamber and came to a dead stop when he saw O’Neill on the ground.

She held her breath as she felt for a pulse at his neck. Strong and steady. Thank God. She blew out a breath and sat back on her heels, her hand resting on his chest.

“Sir?”

“What happened?” Daniel’s eyes shifted from her to O’Neill, and back to her.

“Oy.” O’Neill groaned. He moved his hand to cover his eyes, grimacing in pain.

“God, sir. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to… Are you okay?”

“I’ve been better.” O’Neill grunted and rolled to his side to sit up. 

“What on Earth happened?” Daniel repeated his question.

“I think, Carter just shot me.” Another groan of pain. Sam flinched in sympathy.

Daniel raised his eyebrows, his eyes shifting to her before his lips tugged into a hint of a grin. “Whoops.”

“It was an accident. I didn’t do it on purpose.”

“Damn, this hurts.” O’Neill got up on visibly shaky legs. She steadied him while Daniel went to his other side and wrapped his arm across his shoulders.

“It must have been some kind of energy discharge, sir. Seems like it has a paralyzing effect. I think you were out for a moment.”

O’Neill glowered at her. “Thanks for the update, Carter, I noticed that.”

“Sorry, sir.” She winced. Damn, way to mess up. Looking up, she caught sight of Daniel’s grin. So did O’Neill.

“You enjoying yourself, Daniel?” O’Neill leaned against the sarcophagus in the middle of the room.

“A little, yes.” Daniel said, folding his arms.

“Wait until she shoots you.” O’Neill stretched and then grabbed the P-90 and scuffled towards the exit. “Carter, don’t touch anything else.”

She reached out for the weapon they’d just discovered, but when O’Neill released a warning “Ack”, she jerked her head around, startled.

He shook his head. “What did I just say?”

“Sir, it might be useful to analyze the weapon. We’ve been looking for something like this. Now that I know how it works, it should be safe.”

He narrowed his eyes, and then shrugged with a pained expression on his face. “Fine, just don’t shoot anyone else. I gotta sit down.”

Sam watched him limp outside. That really shouldn’t have happened. Why hadn’t she realized she might be dealing with a weapon? She should have considered the possibility. No doubt McKay would give her hell about this once he heard.

Letting curiosity get the better of her was a rookie mistake that could easily get them in trouble. She could have killed O’Neill—or worse, killed them all with such neglectful behavior.

Daniel nudged her with a grin, then followed O’Neill outside.

She picked up the weapon, and carefully packed it into one of their transport boxes between isolation foil. Then she leaned back against the sarcophagus and rubbed her hand over her face. Was O’Neill going to be okay? What if he’d sustained injuries that weren’t visible yet?

All the worst-case scenarios flooded her mind. It was a full ten minutes before she walked through the narrow tunnel out of the chamber. In the inner courtyard, Daniel had gone back to translating the inscriptions he’d been working on all day. 

“Where is he?”

Daniel turned around. “Jack? He’s sitting on one of the rocks outside.”

“Is he mad?” Sam rubbed her arms. 

“No. I think his pride took a little blow, but he’ll get over it. Don’t worry, he’s fine.”

Sam turned to make her way along the small hallway out of the pyramid complex. She couldn’t share Daniel’s amusement. If the weapon had been more powerful, she would have killed O’Neill. Damn, she had to pay attention.

Outside, the sunlight blinded her for a moment. She shielded her eyes with her hand and looked over the wide, serene landscape. There he was, sitting on the rocks, as Daniel had said.

She hurried over to him, but as she approached, she slowed.

When she was only a few meters away, O’Neill looked up at her. “You know, Carter. I thought we were past the point where you wanted to shoot me.”

She stared at him until his mouth tugged into a lopsided smirk. A soft laugh bubbled from her, and she exhaled. Thank God, he wasn’t mad, and he was okay.

“Sorry, sir.” She sat down on the rock next to him. “I don’t know how that happened. Is it still hurting?”

“I’ll get over it.” His gaze met hers. “Really. Don’t sweat it, it’s fine.” Then a smile. “Just remind me not to get close to you again when you’re examining some doohickey.”

She closed her eyes and tried to stifle a chuckle. “I promise I’ll be more careful next time you’re around.”

“Appreciate that.” He looked at the pyramid. “Don’t you have exploring to do in there?”

“Yes. I do.” She pushed back to her feet, then turned once more to face him. “I just wanted to see if you’re okay, sir.”

“I am.” His voice gentled. “Go, make use of that last hour you have. I don’t wanna have to waste another day here because you and Daniel didn’t get to finish.” His eyes twinkled.

She walked backwards towards the entrance of the complex. “You sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“I really am sorry, you know.” Somehow she couldn’t shed the terrifying feeling he might think she’d shot him on purpose. She brushed some strands of hair out of her face.

O’Neill’s expression became serious for a moment as he nodded. “I know. Don’t worry about it.”

She halted in her step and wrapped her arms around her body, wanting to say something else, but her brain stopped working as she studied him. His tan seemed to have gotten even darker during the days they’d spent on this planet. No wonder, he spent most of the time walking around outside. Probably bored to death.

 _We have nothing in common._ He liked the outdoors. She liked being in her science tent, or snuggled up in her sleeping bag with a book. He didn’t want to be bothered with scientific explanations. She couldn’t get enough of them.

They really had nothing in common. And yet… Despite her best efforts to stay away from him, she couldn’t help feeling drawn to everything about him. His jokes made her laugh against her will and his leadership skills fascinated her.

The more they worked together, the more she respected and admired him. He was a good leader, and she’d come to trust him with her life. Despite everything that had happened between them at O’Malley’s.

He raised his eyebrows with a little tilt of his head, and she realized she was still staring at him. Right. The technology in the pyramid. Damn, what was the matter with her?

She was about to turn around when something in his eyes made her falter. Something changed. And then he jumped up and pounced toward her.

“Down!”

She gasped when his body slammed into hers and then the air left her lungs as she slammed down on the ground. O’Neill’s hand fisted in her hair as he pulled her face against his chest.

A split second later, a fireball passed over their heads. So close, she felt the singeing heat of it. The ground exploded a few meters away from them, and dust and grass rained down. Her ears buzzed.

Pressing her face against O’Neill’s collarbone, Sam grabbed the sides of his shirt. Tension almost made her burst as he lifted his head and looked around.

 “Behind the rocks. Quick.” He rolled off her and got to his knees.

He almost dragged her with him to the rocks he’d sat on before. More fireballs hit the ground around them. Sam almost threw herself behind the rocks, her chest heaving. What the hell was going on?

She looked at O’Neill. He grabbed his P-90, and peeked over the upper edge of the rock, then started shooting.

Oh God, she’d almost died. If he hadn’t pulled her down, that firewall would have hit her and… Her stomach clenched and she leaned back against the rock, heart pounding wildly in her ears. Up to now they’d never run into trouble. Nobody had ever attacked them.

“Carter.” O’Neill’s voice snapped her back to reality.

She snapped her head around to him. Right. She was supposed to do something, wasn’t she? Fingers trembling, she reached for the gun at her belt. It slipped out of her grip and landed in the grass.

She reached for the weapon and tried to load the magazine, but her fingers shook too much. Again she lost hold of it.

She panted. “I’m s-sorry, sir, I can’t…”

O’Neill leaned down and took cover. Fireballs hit the ground again. “You okay?”

“Y-yes, but… What are…Where did they come from? Why are they shooting—”

“Oh fer crying out loud. Carter.” He grabbed her gun with one hand and her fingers with the other. “Look at me.”

The hint of anger in his voice made her head snap up.

“You gotta focus. We have to get Daniel out. He’s stuck in the pyramid. I need you to stop overthinking and remember your training.”

He was right. Daniel. They had to get him out. Her fingers tightened around the grip of her weapon. “Yes, sir.”

He released her hand and she loaded her gun, then cocked it.

“Good. On my mark.” O’Neill counted down three seconds with his fingers. Three seconds was all she had to get a grip of herself. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, forcing her heart to slow down.

When she opened her eyes again, she nodded at him. He lowered the last finger. Zero. They both rose and started shooting at their attackers.

Sam recognized them instantly now that she saw them. Jaffa warriors. They looked exactly as they had on the handout she’d received during her initiation briefing. Their heads were covered by massive bird-like helmets with glowing red eyes.

The bullets from their own weapons seemed to have no effect on the Jaffa. Sam dodged a fireball from a staff weapon and covered her mouth when dust from the rock above drizzled down on her. O’Neill ducked next to her and leaned in.

“I’ll try to hold this position and cover you.” He squeezed her shoulder. “Go get Daniel. Leave everything else behind. We need to get outta here.”

“Sir, what about the equipment?”

“Leave it. We don’t have time for that.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Go.”

When he lifted and started shooting again, Sam jumped up and raced towards the temple entrance. The blasts of exploding energy discharges followed her the whole way. When she was inside the pyramid, she stopped and pressed herself against the wall, her lungs burning for oxygen. Then she ran along the hallway to the inner courtyard.

“Daniel!”

She scanned the yard and released a breath when Daniel hurried towards her from the burial chamber.

“What the hell’s going on out there?”

“We’re being attacked. Colonel O’Neill’s holding the position, but we need to get out of here.”

Daniel started racing for his material. “Attacked? By whom?” He began packing up files and equipment.

“Leave it.” Sam darted to him and grabbed his arm. “Come on. The colonel won’t be able to fight them off forever.”

Daniel searched through the files and exhaled when he found his notebook. “I need this. It has all our information and materials about the Aschen in it.”

Sam grabbed his empty backpack and threw it at him. “Hurry.”

Then she froze as a thought occurred to her. If their weapons didn’t have much effect, maybe they could…

“Sam?” Daniel raised his eyebrows.

“Go.” She slapped her gun in his hand, since he refused to carry one. “I’ll be right with you. I have an idea.”

Leaving him, she spun and raced through the dim, humid hallway into the burial chamber. She opened the box she’d packed the newly found weapon into. She knew where the trigger was, and how to activate it. They couldn’t leave it behind. Maybe it would be useful. Provided that…

She pointed it towards the wall and fired. A beam of focused blue energy discharged against the wall without doing any damage. Thank God it still worked.

She turned and raced back to the exit, where Daniel stood pressed against the wall.

“I can’t get out. They won’t stop shooting.”

“Okay.” She pulled him aside. “Let’s see how far this thing can shoot. Cover me?”

“I’ll try. But I suck at target practice.” Daniel went to his knees in front of her so she could fire over his head, then he started shooting. Sam stepped out behind him and discharged the weapon.

The first beam of energy missed, but the second one hit one of the aliens dead on. She fired again, and the warrior went down. They retreated into the safety of the hallway, panting.

“One down, two to go.” Daniel grimaced before he kneeled down again to look around the corner.

Sam’s next two shots hit right on and the guards went down almost at the same time. Deadly silence followed. Were there reinforcements somewhere waiting for them to come out of hiding?

She had to take the chance. Half expecting an energy blast to hit her, Sam stormed out of the pyramid toward the rocks. O’Neill straightened and looked around, his weapon still readied to fire. Then he relaxed.

“Good job, Carter. Let’s get outta here before more of those goons show up.”

“Jack.” Daniel reached them, breathless. “What about our stuff?”

“Daniel.”

“It took us months to acquire some of the instruments. If we just lose them now—“

O’Neill’s jaw clenched. “Daniel, it’s not worth losing your life over. They can be replaced—in time. If they send reinforcements we won’t stand a chance.”

Daniel dropped his arms in resignation. “Fine.”

O’Neill gestured towards the forest line. “Move it, people. Back to the gate.”

As they trudged through the high grass, weapons readied, he fell into a steady pace next to Sam. “You alright?”

“Yes, sir. Sorry I panicked before.” Her gaze remained fixated on the fields around them.

“Don’t sweat it. Happened to every soldier I know first time they ran into trouble.” He turned his head to scan the area behind them. “But if I remember correctly, I ordered you to get Daniel and leave everything behind.”

She winced. “I thought this weapon might prove effective.”

“It did, and it was a good idea. But if you disregard one of my orders again, I’ll have your ass for it, understood?” Her head jerked around at the anger in his voice.

“Sorry, sir.” Clearly, he had to make sure she didn’t make a habit out of disregarding his orders.

They reached a grove of trees that marked the beginning of the forest area, and entered through a few bushes quite a distance from the path they’d originally taken to reach the pyramid. O’Neill probably didn’t want to run into more Jaffa patrols.

She caught up with his step. “Sir, we’ll have to wait another hour and fifty-six minutes before we can dial the gate.”

“I know.” His hand went up to his radio. “Morris, come in.”

“Morris, do you copy?”

Still no answer. Sam gave him a worried glance. Jason was supposed to watch the gate. Why hadn’t he warned them of the Jaffa patrols? Unless the Jaffa warriors hadn’t arrived through the gate…

O’Neill’s expression didn’t change. His gaze remained fixated on the way ahead of them. Every now and then, he scanned the forest around them. If he was concerned, scared, or nervous, nothing in his body language showed it. He tried calling Jason a third time. Same result.

“Alright, kids, we’ll return to the gate and take cover. Then we’ll wait for our window.”

“What about Jason, sir?”

“He’ll either be there or…” He cut off.

The implication behind his words was clear. Jason would either be waiting at the gate, or he’d run into Jaffa patrols. Blood rushed in her ears, and she had to shake her hands to get rid of a sudden numbness.

They’d never lost anybody, or run into trouble, at least not since she’d become an active member of a Stargate team. The reality of it threatened to overwhelm her. She forced herself to take deep, calming breaths. Battle drills and combat training definitely hadn’t prepared her for this.

She needed to focus on something else. “Sir, what if they’re guarding the gate and we can’t dial out?”

“Carter, don’t overthink. We’ll cross that bridge if and when we come to it.” She flinched at the bite of impatience. He turned his head and his features gentled. “I need you to focus on what we know. We’ll deal with it if the need arises.”

“Yes, sir.”

O’Neill had been part of the Stargate program for over a decade. He was experienced, and if anybody knew how to handle situations such as this, it was him. Surely, he’d run into trouble before, and he’d gotten out. No need to worry.

Sam glanced at Daniel walking beside her. Even he appeared used to situations like these. It couldn’t be that bad. It was just a new situation. She would get used to it. And certainly there could be dozens of reasons why Jason didn’t answer. Atmospheric disturbances, maybe a change in the weather or the magnetic field of this planet. What did they know about this world, really?

O’Neill came to an abrupt halt. He scanned a point in the distance, then his hand shot up signaling them to take cover. Sam crouched behind a bush, her breath catching. She felt for the new weapon at her belt.

About twenty meters away, a battalion of seven Jaffa warriors passed by. Without a sound, she unclipped the gun from her belt. Then she caught O’Neill’s gaze.

He gave a slight shake of his head, his hand signaling her to keep the weapon down. Yeah, probably wouldn’t be a smart idea to take on seven of these guys with only one effective weapon. She winced. Having to hide in the bushes was definitely something she didn’t like.

It took five minutes and the warriors were long out of sight before O’Neill finally signaled them to start moving again. None of them made a sound.

O’Neill motioned towards the area that led away from the path. Sam understood. He was going to lead them in a wide circle back to the Stargate to prevent any further run-ins.

She sidled towards him. “Sir, that’ll take us considerably longer. We only have about an hour left until our Stargate window.”

“More than enough time.” He clapped her on the back gently. “Come on, move it.”

The way through the forest proved a lot more tedious than the path had been. Bushes and thorns blocked their way, and they had to watch their steps to avoid stumbling or stepping on branches.

It felt like hours, but glances at her watch told her it wasn’t that long. O’Neill remained calm and focused. Something about his leadership amazed her. She’d never seen him in action before. Now that she did, it surprised her how much his calm control rubbed off on her and Daniel.

How new she was to all of this… If she’d been the one in charge of the mission, she would probably have panicked by now. Exactly why she wasn’t in command.

When they finally reached the Stargate, they crouched down behind a cluster of bushes again. Still about thirty meters away from the gate, they saw five Jaffa warriors standing guard around it.

“What now?” Daniel’s voice was a whisper. “We’re outnumbered, and I don’t see Morris anywhere.”

“Carter.” Jack looked at her. “You know how to handle that weapon. We’ll cover you. You try getting closer to take at least three of them out.”

He wanted _what_? Sam swallowed hard. How the hell was she supposed to get close without being noticed? Especially since the chances increased the closer she got. The one P-90 and handgun they had would hardly be enough to distract those Jaffa.

Her hand trembled as she unclipped the weapon from her belt. She lifted her head to meet his gaze. He studied her, then winced and closed his eyes.

“Give me the weapon.” He reached out his hand. “I’ll do it. You two cover me.”

He didn’t think she could do it. Well, why would he? She’d panicked earlier at the rocks and almost lost it, and now she was panicking again. She took a deep breath. Everything she needed to know she’d learned in her training sessions. She had to get it together if she wanted to remain a permanent member of a Stargate team.

“No, sir.” When his eyes narrowed, she cleared her throat and felt blood drain from her face. Contradicting him this openly was unacceptable. “With all due respect, sir, I’m the only one who’s used the weapon before. Twice. I can do this.”

He scrutinized her for a moment. “You sure? This is not the time to play hero.”

“I’m sure, sir. Besides, it doesn’t look like I have enough time to explain how to use the weapon.”

O’Neill had to see the determination in her eyes, because he nodded and touched her shoulder gently.

“You have five minutes. If we don’t manage to clear the way by then, our window will be gone. That means retreat.”

“Understood, sir.”

He squeezed her shoulder.

Sam crawled through the bushes, careful to avoid larger branches that would have made a telltale sound. No need to alert the warriors to her presence.

Still, if one of the guards turned around now, she’d be a sitting duck. There weren’t enough bushes and trees to cover her the whole way. 

Finally, she reached a smaller rock. It was barely enough to cover her, but it would have to suffice. Fifteen meters away from the gate and she had a clear aim. Unfortunately so would the Jaffa once they became aware of her.

Sam ducked down behind the rock and looked uphill to the spot where she’d left O’Neill and Daniel. She inhaled, heart pounding in her ears. Her fingers tightened around the weapon. No way would the situation improve, and they were running out of time. Better to get it over with.

All she had to do was shoot three of the guards from her hiding place. Piece of cake.

She closed her eyes and inhaled one last time. _Okay, here we go._

Then she turned. Using the rock as leverage for her arms, she aimed, shot and hit on the first try. _Yes!_

The first guard went down. So far so good, that had been the easy part. The other four guards turned to her position.

Hand shaking, Sam fired a second time, a fraction of a second before they opened fire on her. Another guard went down. She’d gotten lucky they didn’t expect her to be so daring against four staff weapons.

Time to take cover. Hot blasts hit the area around her hiding place. Sam shook off the debris. The scent of burnt tree bark and leaves assaulted her nostrils.

Fire from the P-90 and gun sounded, drawing some of the staff blasts away from her. Not enough. She winced when another blast hit the rock right above where she crouched. Damn, at this rate she wasn’t going to get far.

She crawled to the other side of the rock. Only five meters away from her stood a massive tree stump. If she could make it there… She’d have to be fast enough. Maybe surprise would be on her side again.

She didn’t take time to think or go over all the possible outcomes this time. Jumping to her feet, she raced over to the tree and threw herself behind it. The air left her lungs as she crashed to the ground.

Using her momentum, she rolled over to the other side of the stump and fired. The guard who’d been firing at her went down. Almost at the same time, a fourth guard dropped down from the P-90 fire. She took a careful aim at the fifth, and then lowered her hand in relief when the energy beam hit.

Silence followed. Almost uncanny in contrast to the bullets and explosions before. Sam looked at her watch.

Crap. Their Stargate window. She jumped to her feet and raced towards the dialing device to activate the Stargate. From the corner of her eye she saw O’Neill and Daniel hurry towards her position. 

And then she froze. Jason’s body lay motionless in front of the dialing device. A large gaping wound blackened his stomach. A staff weapon blast had nearly melted his intestines. He couldn’t be alive anymore, not with a wound like that. And yet…

The world swam. She dropped down beside him, checking his pulse. His skin was cool. Her breath hitched, her throat constricted. No, that couldn’t be. Not Jason. Not him.

She grabbed his shoulders and shook him. He was her friend. He couldn’t be gone. They’d just chatted and joked this morning as they prepared for the mission. This was a dream. It had to be.

Her hand made contact with something warm and sticky on his uniform. She glanced down at her palm. Red. Blood.

She stumbled backwards, away from the body. No, no, no. This wasn’t real.

Legs trembling, she lost her balance and fell backwards to the ground. “No. Jason… No.”

Somebody pulled her to her feet. Sam’s head jerked around. O’Neill. 

“Daniel, dial the gate!”

“Sir.” Sam tried to wriggle out of his grip. She needed to get back to Jason. They had to take him with them. They couldn’t just leave him behind. They didn’t leave people behind!

O’Neill spun her around to face him and grabbed her shoulders. “Carter, look at me.” She lifted her eyes to him, his face swimming. “He’s gone. There’s nothing we can do about it. But we’re alive, and we gotta get out of here before more Jaffa show up.”

The bight splash of the event horizon made her head turn. A blast from a staff weapon passed by them, so close that the fire from it grazed her arm. O’Neill spun around.

Another group of Jaffas approached. They were still a considerable distance away from them, but that that would change in a matter of seconds.

He pushed her towards the gate and lifted his weapon. “Go. I’ll cover you.”

Sam stumbled towards the gate, but lost her balance on the steps leading up to it. A blast hit the stone right next to her hand.

Daniel ran toward her and helped her up. Then he threw himself against the event horizon and pulled her with him.

When they stumbled into the Antarctica forests, her legs gave way. She hit the forest floor. A staff weapon blast passed through the gate above their heads and hit one of the pine trees in the distance.

Her head snapped around to the gate. Relief flooded her when O’Neill passed through. Another staff blast streaked past him.

He threw himself to the ground. “Close the gate!”

The explosions yanked Sam back to reality. She was closest to the dialing device. She jumped to her feet and stumbled over to the device. When she hit the large red button in its center, the event horizon vanished. Silence followed.

O’Neill dropped his head back against the ground. Sam slid down against the dialing device, her legs too wobbly to support her any longer. What the hell had just happened? This couldn’t be real.

She stared at the ground in front of her, her mind suddenly blank.

“Alright, people, back to camp.” O’Neill sounded gruff. She looked up and took his hand, letting him pull her to her feet. “You alright?”

She nodded, even though she wasn’t. Her eyes widened when she saw the red spot on his arm, slowly growing in size. Parts of his uniform were burnt away.

“Sir, you’re injured.” Her gaze shot up to his.

“Just a flesh-wound.” He turned and walked away from her, following the path that would take them back to camp. She swallowed the lump in her throat and turned her head when a warm palm rested on her shoulder.

“Don’t take it personally.” Daniel gave her a weak smile. “He takes it hard when he loses people under his command, but he’s not someone who talks about it.”

Visibly weary, the archeologist started back to camp as well. Sam remained frozen on the spot and stared at the dead ring of the Stargate for a moment.

Nothing was real. It couldn’t be. Any second she’d wake up in her tent and find out it was just a nightmare.

She clutched herself, her fingers digging into her arms. Jason. He was gone forever. She closed her eyes and inhaled a shaky breath as tears spilled down on her cheeks.

_I want to wake up._


	16. Alive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the new version of "Stargate Aschen", completely revised style-wise. 
> 
> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> Also, this version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

Sam’s eyes fluttered open. She blinked and stared at the dark green tent roof. Why was she in the medical tent? Last thing she remembered was working in the pyramid on the planet. Shooting O’Neill. Whoops.

She closed her eyes when a mild headache set in. They’d been attacked by Jaffa.

_Jason…_

Her eyes snapped open. It hadn’t been just a dream. Throat sore, she had to swallow against the lump there. He was gone forever. She’d never be able to joke with him again. Or trade sandwiches. Or hear him talk about one of his brothers playing a prank on him.

Her breath hitched and she closed her eyes as the tent roof blurred. One of her best friends, dead. How was she supposed to deal with that?

They’d left him behind on that hostile alien planet. Guilt washed over her as questions stabbed at her brain. Could they have prevented his death? What if she and Daniel hadn’t insisted on spending another day on that planet to continue their research? She’d begged O’Neill the previous day to let her analyze the wall of the burial chamber further. If only she hadn’t.

_I’m so sorry, Jason._

She drew a calming breath. Lifting her head, she tried to sit up against the dizziness. Her foot bumped against the side of the bed. Pain shot up her leg and she winced.

“Ouch.” A white bandage wrapped her ankle. Her eyebrows rose. “What happened to my foot?”

“Sprained your ankle.”

She jerked her head around. O’Neill lay on the field bed next to hers, his arm bandaged. Quickly, she wiped the back of her hand over her cheeks. The last thing she needed now was to give the impression she couldn’t handle a mission.

O’Neill held her gaze. If he noticed her tears, which she was sure he did, he had the decency not to comment on them.

“Hey.” He gave her a gentle smile. 

She looked at her foot. “What happened? I don’t even remember walking back to camp.”

“You stumbled in here and pretty much fainted at the entrance.” Concern flashed across his features. “Gave us quite a scare there.”

“I fainted?” Sam stared at him and dropped back down against the soft pillow. Fainted. How embarrassing. She closed her eyes.

“Shocking, I know.” O’Neill’s wry tone made her turn her head.

“I fainted, like a little girl?”

He chuckled, a glint in his eyes. “Oh yeah.”

“And that’s when I sprained my ankle?”

“According to Janet your ankle was already sprained. You just didn’t feel the pain because of the shock.”

“Oh.” Warmth spread across her cheeks.

“Ah, don’t worry about it, Carter. You made it back to camp. Pretty impressive, all things considered. It was your first real field experience, and you did good. Don’t worry about the fainting. McKay once fainted because he hadn’t eaten for five hours on a mission. So I’d say you’re pretty hard-assed in comparison.” He smirked.

Had he really just compared her to… “McKay? Sir, he doesn’t even have field training.”

Another chuckle from him. Clearly, he was just teasing her. She sighed and stared at the roof. Their mission had turned into a disaster. Jason had been killed, but more importantly, she’d come very close to dying. If O’Neill hadn’t pushed her to the ground…

“Thank you for saving my life, sir.”

“Pshaw.” He waved off. “We’re a team. It’s what we do.”

“Right.” She looked at the bandage around his upper arm. “How’s the wound?”

“Ah, I’ve been through worse.” He shifted and looked at her nonchalantly. “It’s nothing. The doc says, it’ll only take a few days to heal.”

Oh, that was just so male. Lying in a hospital bed, but pretending he was completely fine. “Why are you in the medical tent then?” She gave him a cheeky smile.

He returned it with a mocking frown. “Because _somebody_ shot me with an alien energy weapon. The doc wants to keep an eye on me for a coupla days to make sure it didn’t cause any permanent nerve damage.”

Blood drained from her face. Oh boy. She’d walked right into that. “Whoops. Again, sorry, sir.”

“You’ll be stuck here with me. Funny how things come back to bite you in the six, isn’t it?”

A soft laugh bubbled from her, and his lips tugged into a gentle smile. Then he turned to lie on his side, his gaze fixed on her face.

“Carter, I meant it. Your performance was impressive. If you hadn’t taken those last guards out, we might not have made it back alive.”

“Jason didn’t.” Her voice shook. There. She’d said it. She’d spoken his name aloud. Why did the reality of his death threaten to crush her? She blinked against the stinging in her eyes.

With everything that had happened, she really didn’t want to give O’Neill the impression she was a fragile little girl who couldn’t handle the reality of the field. Experienced as he was, he’d probably seen a lot worse, and lost countless friends.

_I wish I could handle it as well as he does._

“Sam… There was nothing we could do to save Morris. Everything must have happened quickly, otherwise he would have warned us over the radio.” O’Neill’s voice was gentle but there was an underlying determination in it.

“We just left him there. On that planet.” She cut off and swallowed hard. “His family won’t get to bury him. His brothers. They…they won’t even know what happened to him.”

O’Neill remained silent, but the expression in his eyes changed. She turned to lie on her side, facing him, her palm wiping across her cheeks again.

“Sir, does it ever get easier?”

“What?” The tenderness in his gaze made her breath catch.

“Losing people under your command. Losing friends.” She studied his features, noticed the changes as pain flashed in his eyes.

“Never.” He shook his head. “But you handle it differently. You kinda learn to live with the possibility that, every time you step through that gate, you might end up losing a person you care about.”

Sam closed her eyes and released a shaky breath. “That’s worse than the thought of losing my own life.”

“It is. Focus on why we’re risking our lives and those of our friends out there. Doesn’t make it easier, but it helps.” He cleared his throat and she heard him shift. “Morris was a good guy. Someday, he’ll be remembered by the public as a hero.”

Sam looked at him. “Thank you, sir.”

Why did his presence make her feel so safe? Why did his words offer so much comfort? Maybe they did have at least one thing in common.

She had lost a friend. He’d lost a member of his team. They shared the same pain, the same hopes and dreams.

A weak smile crossed his face, his dark eyes still locked on hers, soft wrinkles showing around them. Her heart skipped a beat. Being here with him felt good. Less lonely. Safe, and very disconcerting at the same time.

“And how are we feeling?”

The spell broke. Sam turned her head. Janet beamed at them as she walked towards their beds.

“I see sleeping beauty is awake.”

Oh God. She cringed. There was a nickname that would stick.

Janet grinned. “How are you feeling, Sam?”

“Good, actually. Except that my ankle is sore.”

“Well, I’m not surprised, you sprained it pretty badly. It was amazing you were even able to walk in here standing upright.” The doctor picked up the file attached to the end of Sam’s bed and took the ballpoint pen fastened in the right chest pocket of her white coat. “It’ll take a while before you’ll be able to walk. I want you to take it easy for at least two weeks. No fighting or training.“ She sat down at the side of the bed and felt her pulse. “Any anxiety or panic?”

She swallowed, shaking her head. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

“You were in shock.” Janet looked down to make some notes in her file. “I gave you a mild sedative, so you should be able to sleep. I can give you more if necessary.”

Sam shook her head once more. “I’m fine.”

“Okay. Just take it easy the next few days.”

Janet got back up and threw a sidelong glance at O’Neill while she put Sam’s file back down.

“How’s the shoulder?”

“Fine.”

Sam raised her eyebrows at the grumpy edge in his voice.

“Mmhmm.” Janet looked up at him. “You can complain all you want. You’ll stay here until at least tomorrow.”

“Doc.”

“End of discussion, colonel. You may be commander of this camp, but in this tent I’m the one in charge.” She pulled out a little flashlight and checked his eyes for unusual reactions. “Any problems besides the arm? Nausea, headache, dizziness?”

“None.”

She switched off the lamp. “Good. So far it looks like the weapon didn’t do any permanent damage.”

O’Neill took a breath as if to say something, but Janet lifted her hands. “You are staying.”

Sam lowered her head to hide a smile. Damn, he hadn’t joked when he’d told her the doctor could be strict. She pulled the blanket up over her body.

Janet attached O’Neill’s file back where it belonged. “I’ll allow McKay and Sheppard to report to you, as long as you don’t get up. They’re waiting outside.”

She left, and only a few moments later, Sheppard and McKay entered the tent.

“Hey, Carter.” Sheppard touched her blanket, a grin spreading across his face. “I hear you used the Colonel for target practice?”

O’Neill frowned at the younger soldier. Sam’s cheeks heated. Another thing that would stick forever. She really hated how fast news spread around here.

“I know you won’t believe me, but it really was an accident.”

“Hey, no need to justify yourself.” Sheppard sat down on the bed next to hers, his eyes sparkling. “I know, Jack can be infuriating at times. Shooting your superior officer, though, that really takes guts.”

“Either that, or stupidity.” McKay rolled his eyes and folded his arms. “Every _real_ scientist knows better than to just activate alien technology before knowing what it does.”

“Don’t listen to him.” Sheppard’s voice became slightly hushed. “He almost blew up an entire solar system once, because he said, everything was under control.”

McKay glowered at Sheppard, “It was not an entire solar system, and I _did_ have everything under control.”

“Rodney. You had four nuclear warheads stuck in prelaunch mode. How much more out of control do things actually have to get for you to admit that you don’t have everything under control?” Sheppard shook his head. “We were twenty seconds away from being toast. If I hadn’t stopped you—”

“Fine.” McKay’s face took on a slightly redder shade. “Maybe things got a little out of hand. The point is, I did get it under control. And I didn’t shoot you.”

Sheppard grinned at Sam. “Only because he didn’t dare to.”

She laughed.

O’Neill cleared his throat. “Okay, enough now, Sheppard. Didn’t you want to make a report?”

“Oh, right.” McKay walked over to stand in front of O’Neill’s bed. “I had a closer look at the lightning gun and…”

“The lightning gun?” Sheppard interrupted with a hint of disbelief in his voice. McKay turned his head to him, eyebrows raised.

“Yes. It’s a gun that shoots lightning. A lightning gun.”

“I thought we agreed on calling it a phazer.” Sheppard got up from the bed.

McKay gave a sarcastic chuckle. “No, that’s what you called it. Actually, lightning gun is a lot more precise for the mechanism with which…”

“Kids!” Jack frowned at them. “Can we get down to the point?”

Sam bit her lower lip to suppress a chuckle. Okay, so it wasn’t just her. He did have a dislike for wordy explanations and off-topic discussion in general.

“Well, as it turns out the weapon—” McKay shot a sidelong glance at Sheppard, “—is exactly what Sam believed it to be. It shoots a single, focused beam of electric energy at its target, causing a short circuit. In the human body, the results are extreme pain and paralysis. Interestingly, the effect seems to increase if you shoot it more often. I would advise not shooting more than once at a human being, unless you want to kill them. It works similarly on inanimate objects. We managed to open an electric lock mechanism with it.”

“Can we build more of them?” O’Neill sat up to lean his back against the wall behind him. 

“In short? No.” McKay shook his head. “The technology is way too advanced for us to recreate. At least with the materials we have here. At this point we’re not even exactly sure how it works.”

“Okay, so recreating it is out of the question.” O’Neill looked at Sheppard. “We’ll advise all Stargate teams to watch for more of those lightning guns. Maybe one of our off-world trading partners has some for sale. Ask Mal Doran about her black market contacts.”

Sheppard nodded. “Will do.”

Sam cleared her throat and sat up. “Sir, I was thinking. Given what happened on the last mission, why don’t we turn one of the planets we’ve already been to into an off-world base? Sort of like an emergency evacuation address. We wouldn’t have a problem with our Stargate window anymore if a mission went wrong.”

McKay let out an exasperated sigh. “Didn’t you receive all the old resistance reports?”

“Rodney.” Sheppard frowned at the scientist. “There are thousands of reports. Cut her some slack, will you?”  

O’Neill locked his gaze with hers. “It’s been done before. More than once, actually. Back when the Stargate missions first started, one of the first efforts was to establish an off-world base. Initially, the plan was to move the entire core of the resistance to another planet.”

“What went wrong?”

Jack scraped his hand through his hair. “A coupla things. We had three off-world bases. All of them were destroyed by Jaffa warriors. I was stationed on the last one when it was destroyed.”

Sheppard cleared his throat. “He was lucky he survived. Only five out of thirty people stationed there did.”

Sam held her breath. He’d nearly died defending an off-world base and lost almost all of his teammates. Numbness spread through her. And she couldn’t even deal with the loss of Jason. How had he managed to go on after that?

She looked at O’Neill. His face gentled. “Long story short, the efforts to establish an off-world base cost twice as many lives as all the Stargate operations combined ever did. So we put the idea to rest. The price is too high.”

“We could at least determine one of the planets as a safety address.” She gave him a weak smile. “Just a place we could gate into if we got in trouble. No base or anything. From there we could safely gate back home, or wait until the next Stargate window.”

“That’s actually not a bad idea, Jack.” Sheppard scraped his hand across his five-o-clock shadow. “We could regularly scan for Goa’uld activity.”

O’Neill nodded. “We’ll have to talk about that in the next strategy meeting. It would at least lower the chances of losing teams off-world because they gotta wait for the Stargate window. But let’s move to another problem. We had to leave all of the equipment on P2X-543. Any chance we can replace it?”

Sheppard clasped his hands behind his back. “As it turns out, some of the devices will take a while to reacquire. Not to mention the notes and smaller equipment left behind. Unless you want to go back to P2X-543, we’ll probably have to go a while without it.”

“Great, just what we need, even less to work with.” McKay shook his head with another eye-roll. “Why don’t we just go back as soon as the Jaffa are gone? And by we, I mean you. Not that I wouldn’t. I mean, I would. But I’m not—you’re better qualified.”

O’Neill and Sheppard frowned at each other. Sam smirked. McKay always tried to get out of tasks he deemed unpleasant or dangerous.

“Rodney, I won’t authorize another mission to P2X-543. We already lost one man. I won’t risk losing anyone else. Besides, I doubt our stuff is still there,” O’Neill said.

Sheppard nodded. “Yeah, those bastards probably took it. Some of it was Aschen technology.”

O’Neill looked back to Sheppard. “Any way we can get around our usual middlemen to get our hands on the technology we lost?”

“Not unless you want to go to Powhatan City.” McKay sat down on the table against the wall, and pulled a chocolate bar out of his pocket.

“Why? What’s in Powhatan?” Sheppard raised his eyebrows, his eyes set on the snack. The paper crinkled as McKay unwrapped the bar.

“The festivities for the eight-hundred-second anniversary of the Aschen arrival on Earth. As always, they’re holding the annual Aschen science fair there next month.” McKay took a bite from the chocolate bar. “For an entire week all the new technology will be presented and on open display.”

O’Neill straightened. “And they’ll have all the things we need there?”

“Not just the things we need.” McKay’s face lit up. “Things we didn’t even know existed. It’s every scientist’s paradise.”

“Yes, I remember.” Sam sat up straight. Her father had taken her there once as a child. “They present all the newest inventions in one of the exhibition halls. But they only allow selected human officials in.”

Heads turned to her. She swallowed hard, and blood drained from her face when she realized that she’d told O’Neill she came from a small village near the Pacific Ocean.

Oh boy. She really had to concentrate. “Um. So I’ve heard.”

O’Neill’s eyes narrowed, and he kept his gaze locked on her for a little too long.

McKay swallowed another bite of his chocolate bar. “We could find many of the lost devices there. They don’t have weapons on display, but I’m sure you and John will come up with a few creative ways to acquire new weapons from somewhere else. As always.”

“You have to be kidding.” Sheppard turned to the scientist with folded arms. “Stealing the newest prototypes in the capital of the Aschen government? _From_ the Aschen? We’ve never been this bold in our operations. I know we need the technology, but is it worth the risk?”

McKay rolled his eyes. “It’s a long way to Powhatan City, so I didn’t expect anybody to actually consider—”

“Powhatan it is.” O’Neill clasped his hands together. “Perfect place to be in the light of the approaching polar night.”

Sam stared at him, slack-jawed, and then saw Sheppard and McKay wore equally bewildered expression on their face.

O’Neill looked from one to the next. “What? It was your idea, people. Find a way to make it work. I’ll contact the Powhatan resistance cell to coordinate efforts with them. An on-world mission will be fun for a change.”

 

***

 

_3 weeks later_

Shivering, Sam turned up the flame of the Bunsen burner sitting on her desk. During the past few weeks, it had become darker outside, even during the day. Temperatures had dropped considerably.

Polar night. Only a couple more days before the sun would disappear completely for about three weeks. Not even the Aschen weather control systems could make up for the absence of sunlight so close to the Poles. Snow and cold winds would reclaim the land.

Another shiver. Sam lifted her hands to her mouth to warm them up. Vala hadn’t joked when she’d predicted things would become unpleasant. With the few remaining generators, they barely had enough energy to heat the tents.

Gate travel had been halted for the duration of polar night. Malfunctions in the electricity production made it too risky to send travelers through the gate. If their systems stopped working, returning teams would walk through the Powhatan City gate right into the arms of Aschen security.

Besides, everybody seemed to look forward to short vacations with their families. Sam sighed and turned the page in the book she was reading. If only she had somebody to return home to. During the past eight months, camp had become her home and the people living here her family.

There was no reason for her leave. Except maybe the cold.

An icy breeze made her shudder. She lifted her head.

O’Neill closed the tent flap and brushed the snowflakes from his shoulders and short hair, before he opened his fleece jacket.

“Still storming out?” She smiled.

He grimaced. “Yeah. It’s gonna calm down any time soon.”

Since she had never seen snow in her life, she had been enthused to experience it when she head there’d be snow at Antarctica during polar night. But in the light of the storm’s persistence and the cold, her enjoyment was rapidly decreasing.

Just that morning, she and McKay had to run out into the freezing cold to repair one of the generators. The failures would increase during the next weeks, at least if she was to believe McKay’s pessimistic predictions.

“Cozy.” O’Neill waved at her Bunsen burner with a smirk.

Sam chuckled and leaned her chin on her hand. “Efficient too. Heat and light from the same energy source. Plus it can’t be affected if the generator fails.”

“Ah. Good thinking.” He sat down on one of the boxes near the wall. “Do you have the outline for the Powhatan City mission ready?”

“Oh.” Sam turned and searched the papers on her desk. “Here you go, sir.”

Since she didn’t have any plans to go home anyway, she’d volunteered for the Powhatan mission. O’Neill seemed happy to have her along. She and McKay were responsible for choosing which pieces of technology they’d steal.

Their cell’s only task would be to gain entry to the science fair and compile a list of exposition numbers. Resistance Cell 1 would take care of the theft itself. Nobody knew how or when the theft would take place. Not even O’Neill appeared to have a clue.

It wasn’t their business. During the past months, she’d gotten used to just accepting these things. Cell operations were never disclosed to outsiders. Secrets were kept to protect them all.

Sam felt O’Neill’s gaze on her. Shifting, she looked up from her book. “Was there anything else you wanted, sir?”

“You’re really not going home?”

“No, sir.”

“You sure? This is not a place you’d wanna be during polar night. Besides, there’s really not much to do, and we don’t get much downtime. You could visit friends or family.”

“As I told you, sir, I don’t have family.” She held his gaze for a moment, then waved around her desk. “I want to use the time to work through the literature requirements at university. McKay compiled a list of research material for me to study. I want to try and catch up with the other scientists. There’s some interesting material.” She held up the book she was reading. “Like this. Did you know there’s a study about the impact of solar flares on existing or forming wormholes? The author speculates that the change in magnetic field might actually cause a shift in the space-time continuum which would open—“

“Carter.” Jack winced, and pressed his hand against his temple. “You’re already the smartest scientist as far as I’m concerned. So just give it a rest, will ya? Relax. Have some fun.”

She gave him a helpless smile. “This is fun for me, sir.”

His eyes gleamed. “Come on, you won’t even be able to go swimming anymore in the mornings. The lake will be frozen over for at least a month.”

She straightened. “How do you know about my daily swimming routine, sir?”

“I saw you.” He cleared his throat. “Every morning you go down to the lake to swim thirty laps.”

“Are you following me around?” She folded her arms and narrowed her eyes at him.

“What? No. God, no.” He lifted his hands. “I go to the lake every morning to fish for an hour or two. And you’re always there.”

“Fish?” Okay, that was just lame. If he lied to her he could at least try better than that. “Sir, there are no fish in that lake.”

“Carter, fishing is not about actually catching fish. It’s about the fishing experience.” He stared at her as though she’d just committed the greatest sacrilege. Okay, maybe he wasn’t lying. “It’s very relaxing. You should try it sometime.”

“Maybe I will.” She grinned cheekily. “One of these days.”

“I could teach you.”

“Teach me to relax?” Oh, wouldn’t he like that. Her cheeks warmed. Bad train of thoughts. Very bad. She looked back down to her book.

“Yeah, and fishing.” He rolled up the file she’d given him. “Gotta admit, I look forward to that cute little tank-top number you pull at the lake every morning.”

Sam’s breath caught. “Sir.” She turned to face him. He’d actually seen her that close? Maybe just wearing one of the standard black tank tops and matching panties as swimming gear wasn’t such a good idea after all.

His eyes sparkled. “Don’t worry, I didn’t tell anyone.”

This was dangerous territory. His gaze was too intense. Images of bar night at O’Malley’s flooded her mind and she pushed them back as heat raced through her. It hadn’t ended well then, and it had taken a while until she’d been over it. Best not to indulge in unrealistic fantasies now.

O’Neill cleared his throat again. “Just wanted to tell you that I’m going to leave with the last group later tonight. I have a little cabin up in the mountains of North America. I’ll spend a week there, fishing and…well, you know…enjoying the landscape.”

“With your wife?” _Oh boy._ She closed her eyes, blood draining from her face. Where the hell had that come from? She really shouldn’t use a snippy tone like that with her superior. “I’m sorry, Sir, I don’t know where that came from. That was out of line.”

He held her gaze in the soft light of the Bunsen burner. “It’s okay.”

“You were saying, about the landscape?”

O’Neill’s lips twitched. “It’s summer up there. It’ll be warm and sunny. There’s a pond right behind the cabin, and a lake close by with actual fish in it. You could even swim in it.” His gaze pierced her and Sam straightened.

What was he saying? Had he really just…? “Um… was that an invitation, sir?”

“Two people—friends if you wish—going on vacation together. There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?”

She raised her eyebrows. Why was he so awkward all of a sudden? Hell, why was she so awkward? He was right, there shouldn’t be anything wrong with that.

A week at a secluded cabin. With him. Her heart pounded. It’d be just them… With nothing to do. Oh, really bad idea. Where did the offer even come from? Just three months ago he’d turned her down with a lame excuse about some fantasy wife. Now he wanted to spend one week alone with her at his cabin?

Her smile shook. “No, sir, not at all. I’d really love to.” She looked down at her desk. Books and papers suddenly became an excellent lifesaver. “But I can’t. I have a lot of work here.”

“You could take some books with.” He gave her an endearing smile. “I might even let you confuse me with some of that technobabble. Within reason.”

A soft chuckle bubbled from her. “Sir, I really can’t.”

“Sam.” He drawled her name. Sam’s eyes widened at hearing him use her first name. She wouldn’t go down the same road with him again. Who knew what was on his mind? Maybe he was just in the mood for a quick adventure… and she was an easy choice.

Her face hardened. “I really need to concentrate on this stuff. I’ll stay here. You enjoy your vacation, sir.”

He nodded. “You sure?”

“Positive, sir.”

“Alright then.” He zipped up his jacket, and walked to the exit of the tent. “I’ll see you next week in Powhatan City.”

“Yes, sir.” She smiled, holding his gaze. “Have fun.”

“Yeah sure, ya betcha.”

Another breeze washed across her skin as he opened the tent to leave. Sighing, Sam leaned back over her book. Her concentration was gone.

 

***

 

Jack winced as he stepped out of the tent across the wet ground. The icy breeze provided just enough of a shock to make him wonder what was wrong with him. Inviting Carter to spend a week at his cabin with him? With only one bed?

Yeah, it was clear which part of him took over the thinking just now. Thank God she hadn’t accepted or he’d be in a lot of trouble.

He stuck his hands in his pockets and trudged through the wet grass downhill towards the personal tents. Snow hit his face. If it became colder, the ground would cool down enough for it to stay frozen.

With a sigh, he looked back at the science tent. Maybe he should have just told Carter the truth. Told her about his marriage. At this point, it was unlikely it would ever exist other than on paper. Jacob still hadn’t gotten back to him.

If he went back and talked to Carter now… After she heard the truth maybe she’d agree to go to his cabin with him and they could spend an entire week doing… things. Not necessarily fishing.

“Oh for crying out loud.” Since when had he become such an idiot? Maybe he just needed to get laid. By any woman. Definitely not Carter. Or a blonde. Oh who was he kidding…


	17. Echoes of the Past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the new version of "Stargate Aschen", completely revised style-wise. 
> 
> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> Also, this version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

Sam’s breath hitched when she stumbled for what felt like the hundredth time. O’Neill’s grip on her arm tightened, preventing her from falling.

She lifted the hand fan to cover her face and looked at him with a muttered curse. “I don’t know how you’re supposed to walk around in this.”

Thank God the place wasn’t overly crowded. Most Aschen focused their attention on the exposition items and didn’t notice her inability to walk around properly in Aschen garments.

O’Neill patted her hand and leaned in. “Only a couple more stands, Carter. Stay strong.”

“That’s easy for you to say, sir. You’re not stuck in one of these ridiculously tight dresses. Sometimes I hate being a woman.” Why couldn’t Aschen females just wear the same clothes as their husbands? Instead, they had to squeeze their bodies into tight skirts that prevented any kind of rapid or abrupt movement.

“Disguising as an Aschen was the only way to get in here.” O’Neill guided her to the next stand. “And if it’s any consolation, you make for a hot Aschen woman.”

She cocked her head and gave him a glance of mock-annoyance. Great. Now he was making fun of her. He could barely hide his smirk.

“I have no idea how they walk around in this all day. What if they have to run?”

His eyes gleamed. “I don’t think they are supposed to, Carter. That’s the whole point.”

Sam tensed when he placed his warm palm on her waist as they approached the next stand. His touch burned through the material. A soft shudder danced down her spine, and she swallowed hard.

She gave a courteous nod at another Aschen woman—an eerie carbon copy of herself. Same garment, same rigid stance, same emotionless expression on her face. Her arm was hooked into that of her male companion, undoubtedly her husband.

Not once had she seen one of the women smile today. Or even exchange so much as a word with their husbands. She focused her attention on the exposition items and concentrated on putting the same dull expression on her face.

After a couple of minutes, she gave O’Neill’s arm a little squeeze—the sign that she was ready to move on. He’d been right, only two more stands.

She couldn’t wait to get back to the little guesthouse they’d rented. Operating in proximity to the Aschen made her tense, especially with their location.

Powhatan City. When she’d first seen the large crystal tower that marked the city center, homesickness had almost overwhelmed her. Images of her father, Minny and her home had flooded her mind.

Soon after, the fear of running into somebody she knew had taken over. She didn’t have many friends, but she had often accompanied her father to official Aschen events. What if she ran into Larek? Or one of his friends?

She and O’Neill formed the first team, McKay and Vala the second one. O’Neill had wanted her on this mission because of her knack for heists. She had a keen eye for security cameras and the duty rotations of the guards. McKay and Sam were to evaluate the technology and compile a list of devices to steal.

Getting into the fair had been a piece of cake. It was a mystery to Sam how O’Neill had managed to acquire original Aschen dress garments. They were almost impossible to get, at least for humans. Therefore nobody had even asked for identification when they’d tried to get in. Apparently, the idea that humans might successfully disguise themselves as Aschen was so preposterous, it didn’t even occur to the security personnel.

The next stand might as well have been light-years away. Sam sighed and used her fan to cool her face. If only she wasn’t reduced to moving slower than a snail in this dress.

“I wonder if there are any Aschen jokes.” O’Neill’s wry tone close to her ear snapped her out of her thoughts.

Sam hid a smile behind her fan. “I doubt it, sir. They are generally a very rigid, grim people. Although, I’ve seen them smile occasionally.”

“Do tell.” He raised his eyebrows. “They smile? That must have been some occasion.”

“Yeah, well, actually—“ She cut off as they passed by another Aschen couple. Larek had smiled sometimes when he’d been with her. He’d smiled at her jokes, and even made her laugh. Almost like a normal human male, although he’d been a lot more reserved.

It had all been a clever act. And really not something she could explain to anyone. Most people in the resistance wouldn’t understand how she could have had tender feelings for an Aschen man. Her heart ached a little. Maybe, somewhere deep inside she still held those same feelings for him, despite his betrayal.

“Actually?” O’Neill leaned in again when they were out of hearing distance.

“The Aschen guy I used to date smiled a lot. Though now I think, it was probably all fake.” She fixated the next stand with her eyes. Then a thought occurred to her and she leaned in to him. “Janet told me you were married years ago. How was your wife?”

He cleared his throat quietly. “She was okay. Kind. Even beautiful, I guess. Neither of us really wanted the marriage, though. We were too young for all that crap. I was only twenty-five when they paired us up. Long time ago.” He smirked at her.

Sam gave him a cheeky smile. “Come on sir, you’re not that old.”

He winced. “Not _that_ old? Ouch, Carter.”

Her eyes widened. “That sounded so much better in my head.”

He squeezed her arm with a grin. Sam shifted her eyes back to the next stand.

“What happened after you found out about your test results?”

O’Neill shrugged. “The usual. Not even one week after I learned, I was taken to the Aschen medical center in Powhatan. After a lot of testing, they presented Sara to me. We didn’t share any ancestry. Apparently, our combined DNA was promising.” His face became serious. “Sara was a quiet woman. They assigned us a house and told us that I had one year to get her pregnant.”

“Oh my God.” Cold poured into Sam’s veins when she realized just how close she’d come to having the same experience. Just a few years back they’d loosened the restrictions. She would have had two years to become pregnant. A shudder went through her.

“They gave us a fixed schedule for everything: eating, drinking, sleeping, working. Sex.” His face darkened, and he grew quiet. Another couple passed by close enough to overhear their conversation.

When they were alone again, he went on. “I was too young to understand the extent of their control over us. So I just tried to comply with the schedule to the best I could. I tried to make things as—um—pleasant for Sara as possible. Still, it was hell for both of us. She’d been engaged to another guy. He wasn’t gifted, so the Aschen didn’t recognize the union.”

“That’s horrible.” Sam’s voice came out almost toneless.

“Yeah. In retrospect, I could have handled things better. Our marriage only lasted a few years. Our son died soon after his birth in a hovercraft accident. After that, Sara just disappeared.”

“Did she…?” Sam swallowed hard. It wasn’t rare for gifted women to kill themselves, but it was never talked about.

O’Neill shook his head. “Nobody ever found out for sure whether she ran away, or committed suicide. Eventually, the Aschen Ministry filed official divorce papers so they could pair me up with another woman. I made sure to disappear before that could happen.”

“You think she’s still alive?”

“I’d like to think that. She was a good person, and I hope she found the happiness she deserved.”

Sam sneaked a glance at him. He truly was a remarkable man. Gifted men were usually a lot less caring or considerate of their wives’s feelings.

His head turned and their gazes locked. “What?” His voice gentled.

“Nothing.” Sam gave him a weak smile. _Careful there._ He was also the man who’d lied to her and invented a fake marriage to dump her. Time to take off the rose-colored glasses.

They passed by a group of four Aschen men engaged in an intense discussion about one of the artifacts.

Sam shook her head and lifted the fan again to hide her anger. “The ‘gifted’ system is despicable. Nobody who hasn’t been victim of it understands how much they humiliate you and take away your liberties.”

O’Neill’s gaze rested on her for a pause. “It’s even worse for women. As a man, at least I was allowed to work. They assigned me a well-paid job in the Aschen Ministry, and awarded me with a number of benefits after my son Charlie was born. Sara got nothing. The pressure just increased after Charlie’s birth.”

“Women’s sole duty is to bear children. There’s no regard for what they want. They just have a fixed time schedule, are pumped up with hormones and vitamins, and ordered to have sex with their ‘husbands’, whether they want to or not.” She scoffed, then realized where she was and masked the sound with a little cough.

“That’s probably because a woman’s enjoyment isn’t a biological necessity for the whole process to work. Guys kinda gotta enjoy it to be able to, you know… So they give them incentives.” He cleared his throat.

Sam’s head jerked around to him. “It’s despicable.”

“I agree.”

“Most men don’t care the least bit about their wives’s feelings. They’re after the reward they earn for every successful offspring they father. I hope someday somebody will treat the Aschen just like they treat us now.” She fisted her hand.

O’Neill patted her arm. “Easy, Carter. When we succeed in driving them off Earth, I’ll make sure to keep a few just so that you can kick them through the Stargate one by one.”

A giggle threatened to bubble up and she quickly lowered her head and bit her lower lip. They reached the next stand. Perfect timing.

Sam focused her attention on the technology. A larger crowd of Aschen surrounded them, all studying the pieces of technology with interest.

She swallowed. When she’d still lived in Powhatan, it had never bothered her to walk among Aschen. Now they made her uncomfortable.

“We’re almost through.” Jack’s rasp washed warm against her ear. “Vala and Rodney are coming towards us from the other side.”

Sam lifted her head to look at the people walking towards them. She smirked when McKay pulled impatiently at Vala’s arm. Hopefully she’d taken O’Neill’s lecture about not stealing anything to heart.

Sam’s eyes shifted to a group of people behind McKay and Vala. No, that couldn’t be!

She froze, and her pulse raced. “Damn it.” She spun so that her back faced the crowd.

Her abrupt movement immediately drew the attention of the Aschen man standing next to her. He raised his eyebrows at her. Crap, crap, crap.

She had to get out of the crowd without drawing attention to herself. Sam’s breathing quickened, and she tried to think.

Of all places, her father had to visit the Aschen fair. What were the chances? If he saw her…

She closed her eyes. A disaster that would endanger their entire operation. If he, an Aschen Ministry official, learned she was involved with the resistance… To him they couldn’t be more than outlaws and criminals.

Sam took a shaky breath. She loosened her arm from O’Neill and pushed through the crowd of Aschen towards the end of the stand. Once she reached it, she turned to walk behind it, where she’d be shielded from sight.

“Carter, what the hell are you doing?” O’Neill hissed. He caught up with her and pulled her close to keep up their cover. 

Sam grabbed his arm and dragged him further behind the stand, then peeked around the corner. 

“Carter.” O’Neill spun her to face him, his hands grabbing her shoulders. “For crying out loud.”

“Sorry, sir.” Sam turned her head again to observe the people going by. Had her father seen her already?

“What the hell’s the matter with you? You’re endangering the entire operation.”

One of the security guards in front of a nearby window turned to face them. His eyebrows rose. O’Neill straightened and released her shoulders.

Aschen couples rarely ever touched each other in public. Their behavior had to strike the guard as highly suspicious.

Without a word, O’Neill linked her arm in his and practically dragged her with him towards an emergency exit door at the other side of the room. Sam prayed inwardly she wouldn’t stumble now. Damn, how could she mess up like that?

He tried the handle, and the metal door squeaked open. He pushed Sam through, then closed the door behind him. When he turned, Sam held her breath at the dark look on his face.

“Are you out of your mind?”

“S-sorry, sir… I didn’t mean to… I was…” She swallowed.

“You got five seconds to explain what that was about.”

Oh boy. She’d really messed up. And he’d probably get even angrier if he learned… “I saw someone I know. Somebody who might recognize me.”

O’Neill muttered a few curses, then scraped his hand through his hair. “How’s that possible? You’re from the West coast. You said you’ve never been in Powhatan before. None of the Aschen here ever travel out of Powhatan.”

Sam closed her eyes with a wince. Was there any way to tell him the truth without admitting she’d lied to him ever since they’d first met?

Why the hell had she even lied when he’d asked if she’d been in Powhatan before? She could have just admitted to it. She should have considered the possibility her father would be here. After all, she herself had regularly accompanied him to science lectures and expositions. As an Aschen Ministry official, he was required to visit them. 

“I was in Powhatan City before, sir.” She pressed her lips together.

“What?” His eyes blazed. “Carter, I asked you. I asked everyone. Call me nuts, but you said—”

“I know, sir.” She inhaled and averted her eyes. “I lied.”

He didn’t move an inch, but his stare turned into a glare, and his lips became a thin line. He was furious.

She shook her head. Maybe telling him so bluntly hadn’t been the best idea. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t think it was important.”

“You didn’t think it was important?” He visibly struggled to keep his voice down. “Carter, I asked you—”

“I know.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “It was stupid, I should have thought of the possibility—”

“Damn right, Carter, it was stupid. Never lie to me.” He grabbed her arm and dragged her down the stairs to the exit on the lower level.

No automatic lock mechanisms appeared to be in place. The heavy metal door opened without a sound. But there was no handle on the outside. O’Neill made sure it didn’t shut completely.  Then he turned and grabbed her shoulders.

“What the hell were you thinking?”

“I…” Sam held her breath. His fingers dug almost painfully into her skin, and his jaw clenched as he held her gaze. She’d never seen him this furious. “I didn’t think.”

“You bet you didn’t think.” He released her and paced a few steps away before he turned back around.

Sam clenched her arms around herself again. She opened her mouth to say something, but he didn’t give her a chance.

“Doesn’t matter now. I’ll deal with you later. Vala and McKay need to get out as fast as possible, so I’m gonna get them. Did that person see you?”

She shook her head. “I don’t think so.” Her voice trembled. Damn, she hadn’t even considered her hasty retreat might cause one of the Aschen guests to trigger an alarm. If Rodney and Vala got caught in a security check…

“Who recognized you? Your ex-boyfriend?”

She held her breath and looked up at him. Oh God, if she told him the truth now, told him she was the daughter of a high-ranking collaborator… He’d throw her out of the resistance. Or worse, interrogate her as a potential spy. “No, just an acquaintance. I don’t think he saw me.”

“Alright.” O’Neill nodded, his voice calming. “You’ll go back to the guesthouse. Lose the clothing on your way. Don’t go anywhere until you hear from me or Colonel Caldwell from Resistance Cell 1. Is that understood?”

Sam nodded. “Yes, sir. I’m really sorry.”

His eyes flared up. “Oh, you will be sorry, Carter. I’m not done with you yet. Move!”

Sam looked after him when he entered the building again. Damn, had she lost her mind? She should have just told him the truth. At least about having been to Powhatan before. It wouldn’t have been that big of a deal since she’d traveled around a lot when she’d searched for the resistance.

She’d messed up, and potentially endangered her teammates as well. Oh yeah, she was going to get hell from him. And she couldn’t even blame him.

*******

“Not only did you endanger the operation, you also endangered our lives with that little stunt. All our lives, not just your own. Carter, this is just the kind of reckless behavior I don’t need coming from people I trust.”

Sam shifted under O’Neill’s scrutiny as he stalked around her. She kept her eyes fixated on the wall.

“Damn it, what the hell is wrong with you?”

She swallowed before she dared to look at him. If only she could express how sorry she was. She hadn’t meant to give him the impression he couldn’t trust her.

“You’re confined to this house for the rest of the stay to avoid further run-ins with acquaintances. As soon as we’re back at camp you’ll be restricted to sanitary duty for a week.”

“Sir.”

O’Neill froze and his stare pierced her. “Did I give you permission to speak, ensign?”

If only he’d let her explain. Then again, what would she say? She couldn’t tell him about her father—not without worsening the situation. He didn’t seem to trust her anymore as it was. If she told him the truth… No, out of the question.

She pressed her lips together and held his gaze.

He dropped his arms and shook his head. “Sam, because of your misconduct, I had to pull everybody out prematurely. I was scheduled to meet an important resistance contact at the fair, a meeting I missed and had to reschedule.” He sat down on a chair with a sigh. “Moment of truth. Have you ever been involved in any kind of dubious activity?”

“What? No, sir.”

“Then why did you lie? Why didn’t you just tell me you were here before, and we might run into somebody you know?”

She closed her eyes. “I thought you’d exclude me from the mission if you knew.” At least that wasn’t a lie.

“Oh for crying out loud. It’s my prerogative to exclude people from operations when their presence endangers the mission. You’re not here to satisfy your personal ambitions, Carter.”

Sam winced.

“How the hell am I supposed to keep my people safe when someone on my own team lies to me?”

“Sir…” His head snapped up. Her throat tightened. “I didn’t mean to lie. Or endanger the mission. I just… I didn’t think it would…” Another wince.

He had to see the desperation on her face, because his expression gentled, and he released a breath. “I know we’ve had our problems in the past. But have I ever given you reason not to trust me when it comes to resistance matters?”

“No, sir.” She pressed her lips together. He’d never treated her with less than the utmost respect. Ever since she’d started her work as a full member, he’d never excluded her from missions. On the contrary. As the leader of SG-1, he held both her and Daniel to a high standard. She’d betrayed his trust.

If only there were a way to reveal the truth about who she was without revealing that she’d lied all this time. 

“Sir, I promise, something like this will never happen again.”

“No, it won’t.” He frowned at her. “I have no use for people on my team if I can’t trust them to tell me the truth. I suggest you use the time on sanitary duty to think about your priorities.” He got up and walked towards the door without a backward glance.

“Sir.” Sam moved to follow him, but the heavy wooden door slammed shut in her face.

She touched it with her hands and leaned her forehead against it. She’d really messed up. What if he never trusted her again? He was a fair and capable leader, and he’d never given her a reason to mistrust him in the field. She had to make this right. Somehow.

Maybe he’d understand her situation if she told him the whole truth. Not now, but once he’d calmed down and she was done with sanitary duty. O’Neill probably wouldn’t be pleased if he learned she was the daughter of one of the human officials in the Aschen Ministry. Still…

He was gifted and he’d been in a forced marriage. Maybe he’d understand her situation and the reason for why she’d lied. Sam groaned. Everybody at camp believed she was a salesman’s daughter from a small town near the pacific coast.

She should never have told those lies. Back when she’d first met O’Neill she hadn’t been sure whether he could be trusted. Now she was so entangled in her web of lies she couldn’t unweave it again without sacrificing everything she fought for.

*******

Jack looked around in the unfrequented barroom. Not really one of the busy days. He walked through the room and took seat on a barstool at the counter. Next to Jacob Carter.

“Beautiful evening outside, isn’t it?” Jack looked at the bartender, a young man who couldn’t be older than thirty years. “A beer, please.”

Jacob frowned at him and put his own glass down. “Where the hell were you, Jack?”

“We had to abort the mission.”

Jacob raised his eyebrows. “Problems?”

“Nothing I can’t handle. One of the rookies messed up.” Jack took a sip from the beer the bartender gave him. When Jacob raised his eyebrows, he shook his head. “We weren’t compromised, don’t worry.”

“Do you have the list?”

Jack placed a piece of paper under a napkin, and pushed it over. The older man picked it up and wiped his mouth. The paper vanished into his sleeve so covertly Jack wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t known. 

“So, how’s your daughter?” Jack picked up his glass again. Casual conversation was the best way to cover up the purpose for their meeting. It also gave him the chance to talk about the marriage contract. He raised his eyebrows when Jacob frowned and then let out a deep sigh.

“There’ve been some unforeseen complications.”

Unforeseen complications? When would people finally learn he didn’t appreciate vague answers? “Care to elaborate?”

Jacob swallowed visibly. “She disappeared. The day after I told her about her test results and the arrangements.”

“For crying out loud, Jacob.” Jack put his beer down and stared at the older man. Unforeseen complications was the understatement of the century. “Did she… Is she still alive?”

“To be honest, I don’t know. She left me a letter saying she wanted to make her own decisions and build her life the way she chose. It didn’t sound like she was planning to kill herself.” Jacob shook his head. “But you know the world out there. The truth is, I have absolutely no idea where she is, or if she’s alright.”

Jack ran his palms over his face with a groan. The girl had run away. Because of their arranged marriage? Damn, he shouldn’t have agreed to the contract. “Why the hell didn’t you contact me?”

“Because I thought it’d be just a matter of time before she’d return home. I was worried you’d insist on having the contract annulled.”

Jack frowned at him. “It’s been nine months. God. The resistance could have performed a world-wide underground search.”

“If somebody wants to disappear, there’s no way anybody’ll find them.”

“We could’ve tried. I can’t believe you.”

Jacob sighed and looked at him. His dark eyes glistened. “At the moment, her bothers are contacting several people in the underground. I can’t initiate an open search there. The Aschen have spies everywhere. They’d find out I’m involved with the resistance.” He closed his eyes. “I just… I should have handled the situation differently. I should have listened to her. Maybe if I’d found another way…”

Jack sighed. “It’s not easy to deal with the knowledge of being gifted. I don’t think anybody could’ve made things easier on her. You tried your best. And I’m sure she’s fine. Why don’t you send me a photo and her information? I’ll check with some of my contacts, so they’ll keep an eye open. They might know people, who know people, who know people. We’ll find her.”

“Like you found Sara?”

True. Back when he’d looked for Sara everywhere, he hadn’t found a trace of her either. If a person didn’t wanna be found, chances of finding them were slim.

Jacob put his empty glass down and placed a few silver coins on the counter. “I have to leave, but I’ll come down to Antarctica in a few weeks. We’ll talk in detail about how to proceed then.”

Jack nodded. “Take care.”

He watched the older man leave, and then took a huge gulp of beer. Well, that was unexpected news. Jacob’s daughter had run away. Poor guy. He kinda understood the girl, though.

If she didn’t wanna be found, it would probably be more merciful to allow her a chance at happiness. At least this way, she’d get to choose the kind of life she wanted. If they tracked her down, she’d have to fulfill the marriage contract.

Hadn’t he done the same after Sara had disappeared? He’d broken ties with everyone he knew and just disappeared to join the resistance. Well, with everyone except Jacob, since the older man had been the one recruiting him into the organization.

Vanishing from the Aschen’s radar had allowed him to escape the system. If the girl was anything like her father, she was most likely well and safe somewhere on Earth, starting a new life.

He truly hoped she was.


	18. New Dawn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the new version of "Stargate Aschen", completely revised style-wise. 
> 
> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> Also, this version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

Shaking, Sam turned over in her sleeping bag and pulled her knees up to her chin. That shower she’d taken before bed probably hadn’t be a wise idea. The water was so cold she was surprised it didn’t drizzle down on her in little flakes of ice.

That morning, their last working generator had failed. It would be two more days until they’d receive a replacement. Polar night positively sucked. She was sick of the cold, sick of the snow and ice, and most importantly sick of the darkness.

She lifted her head and looked around the large tent. Everybody appeared to be sleeping. Dividing camp into two larger tents to sleep hadn’t been a bad idea. Their combined body heat would warm the tent up. That had been the plan. In practice it wasn’t working so well. Not for her, at least. 

Her teeth chattered against the cold and she rubbed her arms. Why couldn’t she warm up? Her sleeping bag provided little barrier against the icy breeze of the night.

Quietly, she peeled herself out of her sleeping bag, then climbed over two people to reach the petroleum lamp standing on a box in the corner. Her hands shook and she held them close against the glass. Barely enough heat to warm her up.

Her feet stung with the cold. She shuddered and sneaked over to a box stuffed with blankets and jackets.

One of the sleeping bags rustled behind her. Sam turned her head. O’Neill sat upright, looking at her, wide-awake. She flinched. 

“S-s-sorry, sir. Didn’t mean to wake you.” If only she could keep her teeth from chattering.

“You didn’t.” His voice was a whisper. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Cold, though.”

“No kidding.” He studied her. “You need to warm up.”

“Tell me something I don’t know, sir.” Slurred speech? Had she just imagined that? Her tongue felt oddly numb. She turned and took one to the blankets, wrapping it around her with trembling fingers.

“Oh, for crying out loud.”

Sam’s head snapped up to look at her superior. McKay stirred in his sleeping bag with a moan.

“Carter. Come here.” O’Neill waved her closer.

“Sir?” Sam stepped shakily over some of the sleeping forms. Her eyebrows rose when he zipped open his sleeping bag.

“Get your ass in here.”

Oh no. No, no. Not a good idea. “I’m fine, sir. Really. I just need—”

“That wasn’t a request, Carter. You’re pale and shivering. Come here, before you go hypothermic.”

“You can’t order me to get in your sleeping bag, sir.”

He smirked. In a dark, unsettling way that sent pleasant shivers down her spine. Then his face became serious again. “Body heat, Carter. Your idea during your survival training mission, remember?”

Right. It was a recognized method of survival. And he looked so warm… “You sure, sir?”

His hand moved to the hem of his shirt. In a swift move, he pulled it over his head. His undershirt followed, leaving him gorgeously bare-chested.

Sam swallowed hard. “What are you doing?”

“Shirt off. And lose the pants. You can keep the tank top and the shorts. You need to warm up fast, and skin-on-skin is the only way to achieve that.”

“No way.”

McKay moaned again and then mumbled something indefinably.

“Shhhh.” O’Neill grabbed her hand and pulled her down to her knees, then started fumbling at her shirt. “I’m really not in the mood to freeze to death while discussing this with you.”

“Sir.” Sam wrapped her fingers around his wrist. So warm.

“God, you’re cold as ice.” His face gentled with concern. “I swear, Carter, this is just for body heat.”

She released him. “Fine. But take your hands off of me, I’ll do it.”

She pulled the thick fleece shirt over her head, then opened her pants and kicked them off. O’Neill lifted one side of his sleeping bag, and she climbed in with her back to him. Not that she didn’t trust him. Herself on the other hand… 

His skin felt almost too hot against hers and he waited a moment before he increased their contact, easing her into his warmth.

He’d been right, she hadn’t even realized just how cold she’d become. She released a breath when he pressed up against her, his naked chest against her back, his arms wrapping around her waist. So warm and comfortable.

He shifted and pulled the blanket she’d brought over them for additional heat, then zipped up the sleeping bag. Okay, there was no way she was gonna be able to sleep like this. The sleeping bag provided hardly enough space for two people.

“This is uncomfortable.”

He chuckled against her neck. “Only because you refuse to turn around.”

His hand brushed her abdomen and she jerked against him as heat shot through her. Way to warm up. She swallowed. “Sir, can you not… you know… touch so much?”

“There’s really not much space in here.” She could swear he was smirking. “It’s just for warming you up. We can exchange body heat and both get some sleep.”

Bad idea. Really bad. But he felt good against her. And God, she was getting sleepy. Fighting with the sleeping bag, she turned around to face him. Immediately he pulled her flat against him and her body melted perfectly into his.

“There, that’s better.” O’Neill smiled, their faces so close she could feel their breaths mingle. Her shivers stopped and her arm wrapped around his waist.

She relaxed as she buried her face against his neck. He smelled so good. Heat surged through her as images from that night at O’Malley’s flashed across her mind. The taste of his lips, his strong, hot body pressing against hers. Painful need jolted through her abdomen.

Oh boy, this wasn’t good. She still wanted him. How could she still want him after what had happened? Why couldn’t she just see him as a friend? Like Jason had been… She’d never had these kinds of thoughts about Jason. What was it about O’Neill?

She suppressed a soft moan, and squeezed her legs against the pressure building between them. Bad timing. She had to think of something else. Her eyes closed when he nuzzled her neck. He sure didn’t make it easier for her.

On the plus side, her shivers had stopped. She shifted against him. His soft chest hair ticked the skin of her cleavage, and Sam stilled. His scent filled her nostrils and she closed her eyes. She’d warm up and then return to her own sleeping bag. Just a few more minutes…

The instant she opened her eyes again, she knew it had been more than a few minutes. She felt way too rested.

Her head and upper body lay draped over O’Neill’s naked chest, the rest of her body curled into him. One of her legs was hooked between his. Way too close.

She didn’t dare move. Even if she’d wanted to, she wouldn’t have known how to slide out of his embrace.  The sleeping bag didn’t allow for movement. His left hand increased the pressure on her back. His fingers grazed her upper arm, and she quivered against him.

“I know you’re awake.” His voice was a deep rasp against her ear.

Sam lifted her head to give him a pitiful attempt at a frown. His eyes twinkled. “How long have you been awake?”

“For a while.” His fingers brushed along her arm once more.

“Why didn’t you wake me?” She tried to alter her position, but the sleeping bag restrained her movements. She ended up with her hips pressed even firmer against his. How had they managed to end up in this position in the first place?

“Carter.”

Sam lifted her eyes to his, eyebrows raised. “Sir?”

“I’m only human. You might wanna stop wriggling against me like that, unless you want us to end up in a very awkward situation.”

She studied him, confused for a moment. Then the realization dawned on her, and her cheeks started burning. “Oh. Well… Could you… I mean… open the zipper and let me out?”

“Alright. Just stop squirming.” His hands moved around the sleeping bag, grazing along her buttocks and her waist in the process.

“Sir.”

He chuckled. “Relax, Carter, I’m just trying to find the damn zipper.”

“I thought you were feeling me up there for a moment.”

“As tempting as that idea is.” Another glint in his eyes. “I wouldn’t dare do that.” Finally he dropped his head back. “I think it’s next to my shoulder. I can’t reach it. You’re gonna have to do it.”

“Okay, but that means I’ll have to move again.” She struggled to free her hands so she could reach the zipper. His resulting chuckle made her scrunch her eyebrows.

“Something funny, colonel?”

“Nah. I was just thinking we might have to yell for one of the guys to get us outta here.”

“Not funny, sir. They’ll think we...” She cut herself off, and her cheeks warmed again. He raised his eyebrows with a smirk.

“We what, Carter?”

“You know what I’m talking about.”

“What’s going on, guys?”

Their heads jerked around to where the sleepy voice had come from. Daniel looked at them from about a meter away, hair tousled as he peeked out from his sleeping bag. He blinked, then fumbled for his glasses. As he put them on his eyes widened.

“Daniel, it’s really not what it looks like,” Sam hurried to say. She hit O’Neill’s chest when he gave a deep chuckle.

“Um… okay.” Daniel nodded with narrowed eyes. “I’m just gonna take your word for that.” His gaze rested on them for a moment as he watched Sam struggle. “Do you need help?”

“No.” She panted, her fingers finally feeling the zipper. She opened the sleeping bag, and crawled out into the icy air. Her first instinct told her to get back under the warm covers with her camp commander.

Shivering, she reached down to gather her clothes. Then she caught Jack’s gaze. Right. Damn, she was only wearing her tank top and panties. She attempted a glare and pulled the sweater over her head.

Her clothes clung icy cold and damp to her skin. She didn’t care. The way his gaze rested on her sent tingles over her skin. She had to get away.

In her hurry to reach her own makeshift bed, she tripped over one of the sleeping bags and landed with a soft yelp on a body. Sheppard.

“Sorry, colonel.” Sam winced and jumped up.

“Carter, watch where you step.” Sheppard’s mumble sounded sleepy and he dropped his head back down under the covers.

Sam looked across the room at O’Neill, whose eyes still sparkled with amusement. He really was a smug bastard sometimes. She pulled on her pants, then grabbed her shoes to leave the tent.

He knew exactly what effect he had on her. And if she didn’t know better, she’d swear he’d used it deliberately to throw her off. It seemed to be so easy for him to counteract her efforts to stay away from him.

 

***

 

Two days later the replacement generators arrived and provided camp with basic electricity again. It barely lifted the spirits.

In the next couple of weeks, the darkness became a burden that rested heavily on Sam’s mood. Judging from the general snippiness and impatience at camp, she wasn’t the only one. Finally, Janet started handing out high-dosage vitamin D pills to compensate for the lack of sunlight.

At least the pills restored some of Sam’s much needed concentration. She leaned down to look through her magnifying glass and study the circuit of an alien device.

She glanced up when a cold breeze from the entrance hit her neck.

O’Neill smirked at her. “Carter… whatcha doing?”

She smiled and looked back down, trying carefully to remove a transparent layer of micro-circuits from the artifact.

“I’m taking apart one the devices SG-3 brought back. This is really interesting, sir. I’ve never seen a data storage technology this complex. The pathways are nothing more—”

“Ah.”

She looked up and raised his eyebrows.

O’Neill sighed. “I’m not really interested in that. It was just a conversation opener.” He gave an awkward shrug.

Sam leaned back. “Sorry, sir. What’s up?”

His eyes sparkled. “The sun’s back. Wanna go watch it?”

“Really?” Her heart pounded and enthusiasm raced through her veins. Sunlight. Finally. After weeks of darkness.

“We’re having a little gathering down at the food tent. You wanna come?” O’Neill stuck his hands in his pockets. If she didn’t know any better, she’d say there was more to his question then just a gathering at the food tent.

He’d been a lot more attentive to her during the past few weeks. Ever since they’d shared a sleeping bag…

She turned to look at the circuit she was examining. She really wanted to finish with it and write the report, so she could scratch it off her to-do list. Then again, they’d waited for the sunlight to return for weeks…

In a way, the past weeks had been more stressful and exhausting than when they were operating the Stargate. She longed for downtime. 

“There’ll be cake.” O’Neill grinned at her. Undoubtedly another attempt to lure her away from her work.

“Cake, huh? Where did you get that?”

“Town. It’s kind of a ritual. Every year, when the sunlight’s back, we have a little party. Works wonders for people’s moods.” He held her gaze in that long, intense way that sent tingles over her skin.

“Well, who can say no to that?”

“Great.” His face lit up and he opened the tent flap for her when she pulled on her fleece jacket. 

Outside, Sam inhaled the crisp winter air. Snow crunched under their feet as they walked down towards the food tent. The sun still sat low at the horizon, and would probably set again in an hour or two. It would take a couple of weeks for them to enjoy a fully lit day again. But it was a start and soon mild weather would return with a vengeance.

That meant they’d begin up Stargate operations again. Life at camp would return to normal.

They were still twenty meters away from the visibly crowded food tent when Daniel strolled towards them with an impish smile on his face.

“Jack.”

“Daniel.” O’Neill stopped in his tracks and lifted his hands. “Don’t even think about it.”

Sam raised her eyebrows. Why did he look so defensive all of a sudden?

“About what?” The archeologist wore an innocent expression. “Hey, Sam.”

“Hey, Daniel. What’s going on?”

“Jack didn’t tell you about our ritual, huh?” Daniel grinned and his gaze shifted back to O’Neill.

Sam pulled her jacket close to shield herself from the cold winter breeze. “The cake? Yes, he did but—”

“No, the other one.”

“Daniel. It’s not a ritual, it’s stupid, and don’t even think about it.” O’Neill’s voice took on a warning edge.

Daniel’s eyes gleamed. “Sam, you might wanna step away.”

The next moment, a large snowball flew towards them, hit O’Neill’s chest and burst into dozens of pieces. Some of the ricocheting snow hit her face. She froze and stared at Daniel. Then she turned to her camp commander.

O’Neill cleared his throat as he shook some of the snow off his jacket. “Carter, you might wanna step aside, this will get ugly.”

Oh no, he wouldn’t. Sam watched in awe as O’Neill bent down and gathered snow in his hands, a boyish expression on his face. So he did have a playful side.

With a wide grin, Daniel threw another snowball. It hit Sam’s arm and she stared at him. “Daniel, I thought we were friends.” She brushed the cold, fluffy material off her arm.

“Carter.” O’Neill leaned in to her. “What do you say we team up? Let’s teach him a lesson about attacking his teammates.”

“Absolutely, sir.” Sam mock-frowned at Daniel and bent to gather some snow in her hands. When she threw it, Daniel ducked away. The snowball hit one of the soldiers standing a few meters behind Daniel, talking.

She winced when the guy turned and raised his eyebrows at her. “Whoops… sorry.” Yeah, if only he’d accepted her apology that easily. Instead, he grinned and turned to the rest of the camp members in the food tent.

“Snowball fight!”

Within seconds, the small field in front of the tent turned into a warzone, snowballs flying everywhere. Others joined her and O’Neill in their attempts to hit Daniel.

Before long, teams didn’t matter, and everybody was fair game.

Sam was just forming another snowball, when one hit her from behind. Laughing she turned, and shook her head at O’Neill, who brushed some snow out of his hair.

“I thought we’re on the same team?”

“Friendly fire.” He winked at her.

The hell it was. Sam inhaled and clenched her jaw in determination. That demanded for revenge.

She aimed her snowball at him. O’Neill tried to dodge her attack. Just as she’d expected… Thank God she’d aimed lower. The white, puffy ball hit his chest and crumbled into thousands of little snow crystals.  He lifted his head and the corners of his mouth twitched into a dangerous smirk.

“I think this counts as insubordination.” He stalked towards her. Sam chuckled and walked backwards.

“I was thinking more along the lines of mutiny, sir.” She gave him a cheeky grin. His eyes blazed. Oh, she was getting herself in trouble wasn’t she? “You started it, sir.”

He raised his eyebrows, then bent down to gather snow in his hands.

“Wait… Sir!” Sam laughed and looked around. Damn, no cover anywhere. That meant she had to put up a defense. She gathered some snow and formed another snowball.

O’Neill cocked his head with a warning frown. “Carter.”

She dodged his snowball and threw her own. A second hit. A laugh escaped her.

O’Neill growled. “Alright, that’s it.”

Oh boy. Sam caught her breath when he started toward her, and spun around to run into the middle of the field. Before she could make five steps, he caught up with her. His arms came around her waist and he held her against him.

“First mistake.” His words washed warm down her neck and she tensed. A pleasant shiver ran through her. “You didn’t take a good defensive position before declaring war. Second mistake, never turn your back on your opponent.”

She chuckled and turned around in his arms, her face an inch from his. “First mistake.” She leaned in and the tip of her nose brushed his. His breath audibly caught and his eyes widened, his pupils dilating. Wow… So she wasn’t the only one affected by his closeness. “Don’t underestimate the creativity of the person you’re attacking.”

She hooked her leg behind his and brought him down in a playful close-combat move. He looked up at her, visibly confused. She grinned. That would never have worked had he not been distracted. He was the best close-combat fighter at camp, and she was still only at a lower level.

“I am very disappointed, colonel. A man of your skills should not be this easy to overpower.”

Oh, bad idea to poke the bear. O’Neill leaned over to pounce on her. With a yelp, Sam turned to run away, but a stray snowball hit her chest and she slipped, landing on the soft ground.

Covering her face with her hands, she let her upper body fall back into the snow and started laughing. Epic fail on her part.

When she dropped her hands, O’Neill leaned over her, smirking. “That was pathetic.”

“I know.” She panted. “I didn’t expect that.”

Grinning, he picked up some of the snow and drizzled it down on her face.

Sam grabbed his wrist. “Sir, wait… I’m calling a truce.”

“Truce, my ass. You had the advantage and you blew it.”

“You attacked me from behind.” She tightened her grip on his wrist. “I had every right to take revenge. And I did it front on.” She let go of his hand and rested her fingers on the wet spot over his chest where her snowball had hit him. The melting snow soaked the material, his skin underneath hot against her palm.

Her gaze shot up to his. Every part of her tingled with awareness of him. They were so close, his body half-leaning over hers, pinning her to the ground. Warmth radiated from him, and her head swam with his scent. 

Her breath hitched when the expression in his eyes changed. They darkened, his gaze dropping down to her lips. He relaxed his hand, and she let go of his wrist only to find him tracing some snow along the skin of her neck.

He inched closer, and she parted her lips. Oh God, he was going to kiss her. Heat jolted through her and sent goose bumps along her arms. His mouth was so close. Kissing him had felt so good last time.

Of course, then she’d been drunk. And it had ended in an embarrassing disaster. Her heart beat faster. What the hell was she doing? She really didn’t want to go down the same road as they had after their encounter at O’Malley’s.

“S-sir…” She grabbed his wrist with trembling fingers. When had their playful snow fight turned into something so erotic? She scooted out from under him, her smile shaking. “I give up, you win.”

His gaze rested on her for a moment, then his mouth twitched into a lopsided smirk. “Aww, Carter, now I’m disappointed. You give up that easy?”

Laughing, she threw some snow at him. “You don’t play fair.”

“Playing unfair is half the fun.” Was she imagining the heated undertone in his voice? Her cheeks flamed.

Sam looked down to brush the snow off her shirt. What was he doing? Why was he flirting with her? Was he just looking for a quick adventure? Testing her? She couldn’t make heads or tails of this man.

“So, you still up for the cake?” O’Neill rolled over on his back and sat up. 

Sam gave him a cautious smile. “Absolutely.” She leaned in. “We should hurry while the others are still distracted with the snow fight.”

“That’s the spirit.” Grinning, he got to his feet, then reached out his hand to help Sam up. She shivered when her shirt clung to her chest.

“You should change into something dry.”

Sam pulled her jacket close and nodded. “I will.”

“I’ll save you a piece of cake.”

His statement drew a little laugh from her. She liked this new, playful side of him. His innocent enthusiasm for something as simple as cake warmed her heart. Someone like him she could imagine spending the rest of her life with. Someone who could enjoy simple things.

She gave him a soft smile, and moved backwards in the direction of her tent, unable to take her eyes off him. The snow melted in his hair and on his skin, leaving behind little drops of water.

Maybe she should just go for it. So what if he only wanted a quick adventure? Maybe her attraction would fade as soon as she’d give in to her needs. If she spent one night with him, maybe the urge to be close to him would cease.

No. There were other, more pressing concerns she’d have to take care of first. Such as telling him the truth about who she was before another mission went wrong because of her. If only she knew how to bring that subject up without ruining their friendship. He deserved to know the truth, and besides, she didn’t want to risk her position on his team and as a member of the resistance.

But what if she lost his respect as soon as he knew? What if he would consider her a traitor since her father worked in the Aschen Ministry?

She had to talk to him. Sometime soon. When the time was right. He knew what being in a forced marriage was like. He might also understand why she’d been careful about revealing her identity. And maybe he’d forgive her. 


	19. Betrayed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the new version of "Stargate Aschen", completely revised style-wise. 
> 
> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> Also, this version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

Sam pressed a few files against her chest as she walked with Janet towards the food stand for lunch. The wind was still chilly, but the weather grew milder with every passing day.

In two days they’d begin Stargate operations again and the final preparations were almost finished. The generators were hooked up and maintained, weapons and equipment were ready, and the scientists had almost caught up with the workload. Ready to get new artifacts on their hands. She couldn’t be happier.

Her gaze shifted when a group of townsmen came walking up the narrow path that led up to their camp.

“What do they want?” She raised her eyebrows at Janet.

“They’re probably delivering the last shipment of technology from Powhatan.” The doctor shrugged.

When she recognized the man walking at the head of the group, she froze, her eyes widening. No way, that couldn’t be. _Dad!_

What the hell was her father doing here? At Antarctica? In a resistance camp? Oh God, had they been found out by the Aschen? But why was everybody greeting him like an old friend?

 _Please don’t let him see me._ Too late. He walked straight toward her up the hill, and then his gaze met hers and he faltered in his step, his jaw dropping.

“Crap.” Sam turned and hurried uphill towards the command tent, leaving Janet standing.

“Sam? What’s the matter? Where are you going?” Janet called after her.

She didn’t answer. This was bad, really bad. There was no way she could still keep her real identity hidden now. Better O’Neill learned the truth from her than her dad.

She stormed into the command tent, ignoring the protocol of announcing her presence first. “I need to talk to you, sir.” Breathless from running, she stopped in front of O’Neill’s desk.

He looked up and raised his eyebrows. “Carter. What’s wrong?”

She placed her files on the table and hurried around his desk. “Sir, I’ve been meaning to talk to you for a while now, but I couldn’t work up the nerve.”

“Oh?” He dropped his pen and turned to her.

“I don’t have another choice now, and I’m sorry it has to come out like this. You were right. I lied to you.” She stopped to catch her breath, while she held his gaze.

Face hardening, he got up. “Go on.”

“I’m not—”

She cut off when her father stormed into the tent. She didn’t even have to look to know it was him. Taking a deep breath, she winced.

O’Neill’s face lit up. “Jacob.”

Wait, what? They knew each other?

“So what, you’re just going to run from me for the rest of your life?” her father asked.

She closed her eyes. Undoubtedly that question was directed at her.

O’Neill cleared his throat and looked at her. “What’s going on?”

With a deep breath, she turned around to face her father.

His eyes flared, and he shook his head. “Do you even know what we’ve been through in the past nine months? Hell, at this point we assumed you were dead!”

“What’s going on? Carter?” O’Neill’s gaze shifted between her and her father. “Jacob?”

Sam swallowed hard. “Dad, please.”

Great. The secret was out. No turning back now.

 

***

 

“Dad?” Jack stared at Carter, then turned his head to look at the older man in front of his desk. Sam Carter. Carter. This woman was Jacob’s daughter? How the hell was that possible?

“Jack.” Jacob folded his arms. “Don’t tell me she was here with you all along.”

Jack shook his head, incapable of forming words. _Dad…_ He released a soft groan. If she was Jacob’s daughter… Wow. Carter was his wife. This beautiful, smart young woman was his wife…

The realization baffled him so much his mind blanked for a moment and stared at her. Then he cleared his throat. “Honestly, Jacob, I didn’t know she was your—”

“What do you mean, you didn’t know?” Jacob glared at him. “I described her to you, and her name was in the contract.”

The contract. _Oh, crap._ He turned to Carter. She wasn’t gonna be happy about this. She’d run away from home to get away from her ‘forced marriage’. This meant trouble. No doubt she’d be furious.

Unless… did she know who he was? Was that why she was here?

“Hey.” He turned back to Jacob. First things first. Maybe they could work the marriage thing in somewhat diplomatically. “I didn’t even know she’d run away until a few weeks ago. I met her in a pub up in Ireland. For God’s sake, how was I supposed to consider the possibility she might be your daughter?”

Another thought occurred to him. Damn, Carter had lied to him. And what a lie! She wasn’t from the damn West Coast, she was from Powhatan. He frowned at her. “She said she didn’t have any family left, for crying out loud. And look at her. I wouldn’t say she fits the description you gave me. For starters, you told me she had long blonde hair.”

Carter’s eyes widened as she shifted her gaze to him, and then she dropped her arms. Apparently she didn’t have any clue what they were talking about. Okay, so his theory of her being aware of their marriage was off the table. Shame.

“You told him you don’t have any family?” Jacob glared at his daughter.

“Dad, I’m sorry I worried you.” Her eyes blazed, the blue in them intensifying. “I tried to talk to you. You didn’t listen. You just gave your orders and expected me to follow them. You ordered me to marry a stranger, Dad. Did you really think I’d just accept it and go on with my life as if nothing had happened?”

To say that she’d be furious was probably the understatement of the century. _Shit._

“So you just decided to leave everything behind and run away to join the resistance?” Jacob shook his head. “I can’t believe this. I guess I have to commend you on making it this far.”

Jack plopped back down into his chair. Was there any way to prevent the inevitable? “Okay, this is kinda screwed up…”

Jacob gave him a wry look. “You think, Jack? Well, at least one good thing came out of this.”

 _Oh, here it comes._ Jack lifted his hands with a wince and shook his head at Jacob. _Don’t finish that sentence._

Jacob folded his arms, apparently unaware of Jack’s gesture. “Maybe you won’t be quite so stubborn about the marriage anymore now that you know your husband. You two seem to get along quite well.”

Jack slapped his palms to his face with a groan. What the hell was wrong with that man? And Daniel told _him_ he was insensitive? Sometimes, he wanted to shoot Jacob.

“My _what_?” Carter’s eyes narrowed. Jacob folded his arms and looked at Jack.

Jack shook his head. “You had to drop it like that, didn’t you?” Sighing, he turned to Carter.

“This is a joke, right?”

“Look, Carter.” Carter? Maybe a bit inappropriate given the situation. “Sam.” He got up and reached out to touch her upper arms.

She stepped back from him, shaking her head, looking at him as though she was seeing him for the first time. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Sam.” He scraped his hand through his hair. She looked as though her entire world had crumbled around her. He reached out to her, keeping his touch gentle, but she wrenched away from him as though he’d burned her. Her face became a mask of fury, desperation, and pain. He flinched. “You gotta believe me, I didn’t know you were—”

“Don’t you dare touch me.”

“Sam.”

“No. Don’t you ever touch me again.” She pressed her lips together and shook her head. “How could you agree to that? You of all people. After all you went through with your first wife? After all that we’ve…” Her voice broke and she blinked.

“Hey, I didn’t agree. At first.” This didn’t have to be a disaster. On the contrary. If only she’d let him explain. She was his wife. They could give their relationship a shot now. “This whole thing wasn’t even my idea. Your father assured me that he’d convince you—” Damn right, this whole thing was Jacob’s fault. He turned and glared at the older man. “You assured me she’d be okay with it.”

“I didn’t think she’d be this stubborn.” Jacob waved his hands at her. “Or that she’d run away. Hell, you’re the one who was with her for almost nine months. It didn’t occur to you once that she might be my daughter? I described her to you in detail.”

“You told me she had long hair. Besides, you never even informed me she was missing.” Jack’s voice rose in volume. Somehow they were moving in circles.

He froze, when next to him, Carter—no, Sam—released a chuckle. 

“Well.” Sarcasm dripped from her voice. “I’m _so_ sorry to disappoint you. I’m sorry I’m apparently more stubborn than my father advertised. And I’m sorry my physical features don’t meet your expectations.” She glared at him. If looks could kill… “You’re unbelievable. How dare you talk about me as if I were piece of meat to be bought and sold? You’re despicable. Both of you.”

She grabbed her files from his desk and marched toward the exit.

“Sam… wait.” His heart beat faster when she halted at the entrance. Maybe she’d come around… When she turned and locked her gaze with his, ice poured into his veins.

“Just so you know, I never signed any contract. As far as I’m concerned, I’m not married to anybody. Least of all to you. _Sir_.”

“Sam.”

She spun and left his tent without a backward glance. Jack stared at the tent flap, then scowled at Jacob. “Thanks for that. Couldn’t you at least give me the chance to bring up the marriage thing somewhat diplomatically?”

“You had nine months for that,” Jacob snapped. 

“Oh for crying out loud, I didn’t know she was…” He closed his eyes and scratched his hand through his hair. This discussion was futile. It wouldn’t help in finding a solution for their problem. “Great, so now what?”

“What do you mean, now what? She’s your wife, Jack.”

Jack raised his eyebrows at his friend. What the hell was the matter with him?

“I’ll make clear to her that she’ll have to come to terms with the marriage if she wants to stay here and keep working at camp.”

“Hey, wait a minute.” He lifted his hands. “I don’t think pressuring her like that will help her deal with the situation.”

Jacob cocked his head and studied him for a moment. “You care about her.” As though that was a big revelation.

Jack cleared his throat. He really wasn’t in the mood to discuss his feelings for Carter with one of his oldest friends. Who was now his father-in law. Talk about awkward… “I value her. Both in the field, and as a person. She’s a brilliant asset to the resistance, and I wouldn’t be much of a commanding officer if I didn’t recognize and acknowledge her strengths.”

“Jack, please. Are you telling me, the way she just reacted, and the way you’re behaving now—”

“Let it go.” Sighing, Jack dropped back into his chair. “It doesn’t matter, cause thanks to you, she hates me now.”

“You agreed to sign the contract.”

“You came up with it in the first place. And you assured me she’d be okay with it.” He glared at him. “I won’t force her into this arrangement.”

“I don’t see a problem with that. I’m just happy to know she’s alive. If you two are friends, and you get along, you can talk about how to handle the contract. You still have over a year until the Aschen Ministry expects results.”

Results… What a rational way to phrase the baby issue. Since almost ten months had passed since they’d signed the contract, the Aschen Ministry would expect him to get Carter pregnant within the next year. He rubbed his fingers across his forehead. How the hell was he supposed to make this right?

Knowing Carter… He couldn’t picture her as a woman who’d agree to have children. And as things were, least of all with him.

Jacob sat down on one of the boxes. “Jack, we wanted to bring her into the resistance anyway, so this isn’t a bad thing. If she wants to stay and work in the sciences, I’m fine with that. I’d prefer it, though, if you refrained from using her in the field from now on. Surely you have other people who can go through the Stargate.”

He lifted his head. Jacob couldn’t be serious. No wonder Carter’d run away if he always made decisions for her like that. “I can’t do that. She’s part of my team.”

“Jack, she’s very smart. Surely, you can find a position in one of the science teams for her that is more tailored to her knowledge and where she’s less likely to get killed in an ambush.”

“She’s worked her ass off to get onto my team. She completed all the parts of the training and she was the one who came up with the new dial-in procedure for the Aschen computer.” Jack got up and frowned at him. “She’s resourceful and capable, and the resistance needs her. _I_ need her. On my team.”

“She’s my daughter.” Jacob glowered at him. “What if this discussion were about your son? Would you be okay with me putting him on the front line?”

Why did he have to turn that around like that? Jack closed his eyes and shook his head. “Fine, I’ll think about it.”

This was just great. Having to decide between what his oldest friend wanted and what his wife wanted. His wife. He dropped down into his chair.

Carter’d be devastated if he took her off his team and put her on permanent science duty. And rightly so. There was no professional reason for doing that. He liked working with her, and, despite her recent slipup on the mission in Powhatan, he trusted her. Besides, he could stand her technobabble all day long. A requirement no other scientist fulfilled.

On the other hand… She’d lied to him on a scale beyond comprehension. Nothing she’d told him about herself was true. Actually, if she’d been honest about who she was, this whole situation could’ve been prevented from the start. And she was blaming _him_ for all this?

Which took him back to another problem. She didn’t want the marriage. “How on Earth am I supposed to get her to agree to all that?”

“I’ll talk to her.” Jacob got up.

Oh, great idea. Yeah… If Jacob picked up where he left off, that would go over well. He could see where Carter had inherited her stubbornness. His head pounded.

“Jacob, just let me handle it. She’s my wife and that legally makes her my responsibility. I’ll talk to her. I’m sure I can bring her round.”

He had no idea how yet, but at least that was better than Jacob trying to badger her into the marriage.

 

***

 

Sam heard the tent flap rustle behind her, and her heart dropped. Blood rushed in her ears. She didn’t even have to turn around to know who it was.

“Don’t even start.” She stared at O’Neill. 

“Sam.” He closed the tent flap, his voice soothing, but she shook her head.

“I don’t want to talk to you. Not now, and not anytime in the foreseeable future.”

“Sam.”

“And don’t address me as if we’re friends. I don’t know you at all. And you don’t know me.”

“Can’t we at least talk about how to proceed from here?”

“Why don’t you talk about that with my father?” She couldn’t keep the edge out of her voice. “You two seem to be doing so well in planning my life for me.”

“For cryin’ out loud.” O’Neill’s eyes flared. “I only agreed to the contract because I thought it would help you.”

“And how about demoting me? You think that would also help me?”

She still couldn’t believe he had agree to her father’s demands. Having stood in front of the command tent, she’d been tempted to storm back in there and smack them both. That wouldn’t help her case, though. Besides, then O’Neill would have a reason for demoting her.

He stared at her. “What?”

“I heard you. You’re going to take me out of SG-1 and put me into science permanently, because he asked you to. Is that how things are going to be from now on? My father makes the decisions and you implement them?” She threw her book onto her sleeping bag and folded her arms.

He cleared his throat. “I said I’d think about it. I don’t like having to decide things on the spot like that. Your father put me in a difficult position. I have no intention of pulling you out of the field.” He gestured in the vague direction of his command tent. “I told him as much about ten minutes ago.”

“Oh.” She stared at him. Well, so what? Did he expect some kind of recognition now? “In that case, I guess we can live happily ever after. You only seem to have my best interests in mind.”

“I didn’t do it for you. I never wanted to let personal feelings interfere with work. Pulling you out of the field to protect you is exactly that.”

“Oh, so you’re saying you do want to pull me out of the field?” She scoffed and shook her head.

“Not what I meant. Or said. Listen, I’m sorry for how this turned out.” When she scoffed again, his eyes blazed. “If you’d told me the truth about who you were, it wouldn’t have come to this.”

Seriously? He was going to pin this on her? Because of her lie? She folded her arms and shook her head. “So this is all my fault? As far as I know, my signature isn’t on that stupid contract.”

“Carter.”

“You know, I can’t believe I worried about lying. You lied to me all this time.”

“I never lied to you. I told you I was married.” His tone was gentle. “If I’d known who you were when I met you, I wouldn’t have—”

“What, you wouldn’t have been so hard on me during training and missions? You’d have protected me? Kept me out of danger? I don’t want that. I don’t _need_ that.”

He paced the tent.

“Granted, sir, I’m not the best soldier, but I fought my way through boot camp training and learned how to defend myself. I completed all the required training exams. I’m good enough to make it in the field. You thought so before you knew about the damn marriage contract. I want to be respected as a soldier.”

“Carter, I do respect you.”

“Yeah, right.”

O’Neill groaned, and for a moment he looked clueless. “Alright, what do you suggest?”

“As far as I am concerned, the marriage contract is invalid. There’s nothing to suggest. Now, if you don’t mind, _sir_ , I have to read through this book, and then finish an artifact report I’ve been working on for the past two days.”

“Sam, I wasn’t really excited about the marriage either.”

“And yet you confidently told my father to leave the matter in your hands, because you’d convince me how good an idea being married to you was.”

He flinched. “You heard that too, huh?”

“How exactly am I supposed to take that comment? Unless you genuinely believe that tale you told me about not needing drugs to seduce a woman, and it’s only a matter of time before I inevitably surrender to your charms?”

“I know saying this is probably useless, but I didn’t mean it that way. Maybe we should both cool down. You know, think about the situation for a while.”

“I have nothing to think about.” She glared at him.

O’Neill opened his mouth, apparently wanting to say something else, but the tent flap behind him opened. Janet, Vala and Daniel entered. They froze and raised their eyebrows, staring at their camp commander. Then their gazes shifted to Sam, who sat down on her sleeping bag.

“Sorry, um… are we interrupting something?” Daniel scratched the back of his neck.

Before O’Neill could answer, she shook her head. “No, Daniel. We’re finished. The colonel was just leaving.”

O’Neill looked at her, then turned and marched out of the tent without another word.

Her friends looked after their commanding officer, slack-jawed, and then turned their eyes back on Sam.

“What in the world was that all about?” Janet walked over to her own sleeping bag and sat down.

“I’m married.” Best to tell them straight out. It was only a matter of time until they’d learn the truth anyway.

“You’re what?” Vala stared at her, slack-jawed. If the circumstances had been difference, she’d have laughed about this. It took a lot to shock Vala.

“You’re married.” Daniel folded his arms. “Okay. What does that have to do with—?”

“I didn’t agree to it. My father negotiated the marriage contract against my will when he learned I was gifted.”

“Your father.” He pushed his glasses further up on his nose. Sam rolled her eyes. Sometimes his habit of repeating things back got on her nerves. “I thought you didn’t have any family left.”

“I lied. My father is alive, and he’s here at camp.”

“Jacob Carter’s your father?” Daniel stared at her. “You’re Jacob’s daughter?”

She released a sigh. Apparently everybody knew her father here. Why the hell hadn’t he told her he was working with the resistance? So many lies… And they were blaming her for lying to O’Neill about her identity?

Vala raised her eyebrows at Daniel. “How do you know her father?”

He shrugged. “Jacob Carter’s been a member of the resistance for over thirty years. He’s one of only a handful of our people working at the Aschen Ministry. He and Jack have been friends ever since Jack joined the resistance. Jack introduced me to him a few years ago.”

So that was why her father’d been at the science fair in Powhatan. He’d been the contact that O’Neill had wanted to meet. All those years when she’d thought her father was collaborating with the Aschen, he’d actually worked for the resistance as one of their most important members.

Sam stared unfocused at a point on the tent wall. “O’Neill is my husband.”

Janet and Vala became uncharacteristically still.

Daniel almost choked. “Excuse me?”

“Apparently, O’Neill is the man my father married me off to. He never told me the guy’s name.”

“Oh.” Then his face lit up. “So you’re the one…”

Sam looked up at him and narrowed her eyes. “You knew about this?”

“Well… yes… no…” he said and swallowed visibly. “I didn’t know it was you. Jack told me the story a while back after team night. He said he’d agreed to marry the daughter of one of his friends. He also said, he didn’t believe the marriage was going to be more than a signature on a paper.” Daniel scratched his head and scrunched his eyebrows. “Sam, shouldn’t you be happy about this?”

She stared at him. So did Vala, and Janet.

Daniel shifted his foot. “Well, maybe not exactly happy, but… I mean, you like Jack, right? Now that you know you’re married, you can actually be together.”

“We can _what_?” She got up, her hands fisting. “He agreed to marry me, over my head. He didn’t even bother to check whether I was okay with it. Let alone get to know me beforehand. Hell, he didn’t even care enough to find out my name when he signed. He and my father just negotiated it like… you would negotiate selling a dog.”

She started pacing and gave a bitter laugh. “And to top it all off, he has the arrogance to believe he could somehow woo me into this arrangement. And you honestly believe I should fall into his arms?”

“I know Jack can be an ass sometimes.” Daniel winced. “And knowing him, he probably didn’t handle the situation very well. But—”

“I never want to see him again.” Sam closed her book with a sigh. Damn, why did her heart ache so much at the thought? “I’ve worked so hard on my position here. I don’t want to give that up. I don’t want this marriage, but he apparently does.”

“Of course he does.” Sarcasm dripped from Daniel’s voice as he pushed his glasses further up on his nose. “Sam, despite whatever stupid thing he said—or did—I know he really cares about you.”

She gave an ironic chuckle.

“Sam.” Janet went to her knees next to her. “You care about him, too, don’t you?”

If only it wasn’t true. Somehow that made his betrayal all the worse. Of all the people she knew, he was the last one she’d ever expected to agree to a forced marriage contract. Everything they’d ever talked about, concerning his first marriage and how much he despised those forced arrangements, had apparently just been empty words.

He’d told her his marriage had been torture for both him and his ex-wife. Yet he was willing to put another woman through that torture. No, she wouldn’t forgive him. And she wouldn’t agree to the contract. 

She hadn’t known him at all.

Maybe, she’d been so desperate to find someone who understood her situation, she’d just projected her ideal of a man onto him. After all, most of the gifted men didn’t care about their wives. They complied with the marriage contracts. So why would he have been different?

She blinked against the stinging in her eyes. It didn’t matter anymore. She was done with him. Maybe she should ask for reassignment to another resistance cell. Then again, here she had the chance to go through the Stargate and work in the sciences. No other cell would be able to offer her that.

No, she wouldn’t let anybody take that away from her.

 

***

 

“You’ve changed since I last saw you.”

Sam jerked her head up and flinched when she hit the table. The network cables in her hand forgotten, she leaned up and looked at her father, rubbing the sore spot at the back of her head. Where had he come from? She hadn’t even heard him enter.

“What do you want?”

“Not even a hello?” He gave her a weak smile. She folded her arms and narrowed her eyes.

“You know, you could’ve sent me a letter… anything, just to let me know you were still alive.” His tone sounded like an accusation. So typical.

“What, so you could track me down and make sure I live up to your marriage contract?” She didn’t bother to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

“What I did, I did only with your best interests in mind. You didn’t need to run away. I’d already talked your future over with Jack. He was going to bring you into the resistance as a scientist. If you’d come to me and talked to me before—”

“I _did_ try to talk to you, Dad. And I don’t need you—or Colonel O’Neill—to be protective of me. As you can see, I made my way into the resistance all by myself.”

Jacob nodded. “Yes, you did. And from what I’ve read, you’ve become quite an asset. I’m just saying… if you’d trusted me, it wouldn’t have been so hard on you.”

“No, I would have gotten in under the protection of you and my ‘husband’, and stayed under his constant observation.” She scoffed with a shake of her head. “You don’t get it, do you? I never wanted that. I learned to fight and defend myself like every other soldier. I don’t want anybody going easy on me just because I’m the daughter of _the_ Jacob Carter—or the wife of the camp commander.” She sighed. “You have no idea how hard I’ve worked to get where I am, Dad.”

Jacob’s eyes flared. “I’m your father. It’s my right to worry about you. And there is nothing wrong with being protected.”

“Depends on your perspective, I guess.” Sam straightened and glared at him.

Jacob leaned forward and slammed his palms on her desk. “Sam, I’ve worked undercover in the Ministry for almost thirty years now. It’s not a pleasant life.  The constant fear of being found out, or never returning home, especially when you have children… I did everything I could to keep you safe. Sometimes that included doing things I despised.”

She rolled her eyes.

He sighed and his expression became pained. “If you worked solely in the sciences, you wouldn’t have to deal with the fear and pressure that comes with field duty. You could have it so much easier and still do the things you love.”

“It’s my life, it’s _my_ choice. This is what I want. Going through the Stargate to other planets is what I’ve dreamed about ever since I started studying the gate. I don’t care if it’s dangerous. I’m working for my people, to free them of the Aschen occupation.” She rubbed the dust off her fingers. “You made the decision to join the resistance without anybody interfering. Damn, you didn’t even think it was necessary to tell me you’re not actually a collaborator. Now all I ask is that you let me make the same decisions for my life.”

“That was different.” He shook his head. “I’m—”

“A man, Dad?” She put her hands on her hips.

“Your father. And I didn’t pay for all your education, so you could get yourself shot out there on an alien planet. Or worse, land in one of the Aschen prisons.”

Her education? He was bringing that up now? “You know, this is just so typical. Whenever I don’t do what you want, you bring up the things you’ve done for me to guilt me into giving in. I can’t agree to your terms. Not this time.”

“Sam.”

“I have my friends here, my work. All of that I achieved by myself. I don’t want to give it up. And I won’t agree to a contract signed without my consent. If I decide to marry, it will be a person of my choosing, not yours.”

Jacob leaned forward on the desk with an exasperated sigh. “That matter isn’t open for discussion. The contract was approved by the Ministry. It was a risky arrangement to start with, and dissolving the contract now will draw unwanted attention to the case by the Aschen government.”

“You should have thought about that before—“

“You will just have to deal with it.” Her father narrowed his eyes at her. “If you ask me, you could’ve done much worse than Jack. He’s a good man, Sam, and if you stopped being so stubborn, you might actually see the merit in the arrangement. For both of you.”

Merit? Please… Granted, O’Neill had never treated her with anything other than the highest respect, and he’d shown his trust in her on more than one occasion. And if her father’d presented Jack to her, and let her get to know him before signing any contract, she might have agreed to the marriage. But not this way. Not in a way that disempowered her and left her with no choice of her own.

“The point is, you never even asked me. All I ever wanted was for you to include me and to trust me to be capable of making my own decisions. Instead you made it final over my head, and now you expect me to be happy with it.”

At that moment, the entrance flap opened and O’Neill entered. Sam swallowed when their gazes met. He faltered in his step and winced.

She pressed her lips together and sat down on her chair, not deigning to look at him again.

“Sorry to… um…” O’Neill said, and cleared his throat. “Carter, I need the report about the artifact from 498. That is, if you got it already.”

She searched through her filing system and handed him a folder, avoiding his gaze. She was probably bordering on insubordination, but who cared.

O’Neill looked at her father, who shrugged, and then he cleared his throat. “Thank you.”

“Before I forget, sir, McKay asked me to tell you he needs some research material.” Sam fixed her gaze on a sheet of paper on her desk. “A list of books he compiled. Apparently you ignored his request.”

“I see.” He nodded. “Did he tell you what exactly he needed them for?”

“No, sir. He just asked me to remind you to acquire them as soon as possible. Which I have hereby done.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

She felt O’Neill’s gaze rest on her for a little too long, before he turned and left. Her father folded his arms while he watched his friend leave the tent. Then his gaze locked with Sam’s.

“Don’t you think you’re being a little unfair to Jack?”

 “Unfair? I’ve treated him with all the respect due to the commander of this base.”

“Yes, you have. But that’s not what I’m referring to, and you know it.”

She released an exasperated sigh. “What do you expect me to do? Thank him for so graciously taking pity on me, for agreeing to marry and protect me?”

Jacob growled. “You know what? This conversation is futile. Why don’t you let me know when you’ve calmed down. You know where to find me in Powhatan.” With those words, he turned on his heel and exited the tent.

Sam closed her eyes. “Dad!”

He didn’t come back.

Pain stabbed at her heart. She didn’t want to fight with him. If only he’d understand her position. Why couldn’t things return to how they used to be?


	20. Unbreak My Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> This version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

_2 weeks later_

“Ensign Sam Carter reporting as ordered, sir.”

Jack looked up from his desk. Carter stood straight and calm, her gaze fixed on the wall behind him. A perfect soldier.

For two weeks she’d avoided him. They hadn’t spoken to each other since the afternoon they’d learned they were married.

Jacob had left with only a cold goodbye for his daughter. Oh yeah, there were definitely similarities in their personalities. If only she’d calm down enough for them to talk about how to proceed from here.

Two weeks ago, he’d thought it’d be a good idea to assign her to Sheppard’s team temporarily to give them both some distance to calm down. The space he’d given her apparently hadn’t diminished her anger at all.

Why did this even have to be so complicated, for crying out loud? There was something between them. She’d made a move on him at O’Malley’s. They were a good team in the field. They’d be good together as a couple.

Alright, fine, if she didn’t wanna be with him, he’d let the marriage stand as a signature on a paper. But they had to talk about it without her being angry or stubborn.

Besides, there was the pregnancy issue to work out. If she wasn’t pregnant a year from now, they’d be required to visit the Aschen breeding facilities. That’d make their lives really uncomfortable. Besides, it would bring up the wrong kinds of questions about why he wasn’t working in an Aschen assigned job anymore.

Then there was the issue of SG-1. He didn’t want to leave her on SG-2 indefinitely. In order for them to function as a team, they at least needed to get back to being friends. He couldn’t work with someone who avoided him. Even now, he knew she was only here because he’d ordered her to be.

“At ease.”

She relaxed only as much as rules dictated and still refused to look at him.

“I wanted to let you know, starting today, you won’t be joining SG-2 anymore. McKay’s back from his science mission to PX5-252. He wants his old position on Sheppard’s team back. So you’ll return to duty on SG-1.”

“Yes, sir.” Firm and controlled.

“That means you’ll be working on my team under my command again. Is there a problem with that?” Damn her stupid perfect soldier attitude. Cold Carter was almost worse than angry Carter. His eyes narrowed.

“No, sir, no problem at all.”

“Damn it, Carter, will you at least look at me.”

For a moment it looked like she was gonna disobey his order, then her eyes shifted to his.

Jack sighed. “Is the thought of being married to me that repulsive?”

Her eyes flared and she inhaled as if to say something, but remained quiet.

Jack growled. “We’ll have to talk about this at some point.”

“Permission to speak freely, sir?”

“Oh, for crying out loud.”

She looked puzzled, almost startled at his unexpected outburst. Good, at least he was getting some kind of emotion out of her.

“You don’t have to address me by rank when we talk about this, Sam.”

She averted her eyes.

He sighed, resigned. “Permission granted.”

“Sir, I don’t think there’s anything to talk about. I made my position about the contract clear. Regardless of what the law dictates, I refuse to recognize any contract that was signed without my consent.”

Was she serious? After everything they’d been through together, she wasn’t even willing to give him the benefit of the doubt?

They’d been friends for crying out loud. Maybe even more. Damn, why had he even hesitated that night at O’Malley’s? He should have just taken her then. They’d be together now, and the situation would be less difficult. How could she pretend the attraction between them never existed?

All he’d wanted to do was help her, spare her the fate he and most of the other gifted ones had to face. He hadn’t been thrilled about the marriage, but when he’d learned that she was his wife… Carter, a woman he already respected, liked, and knew he could count on. Not to mention one he was attracted to.

He’d be damned if he’d let her out of it that easily.

“You’ll stay here all day if that’s what it takes. We _will_ talk about this.”

“Well, what exactly do you want me to say?” She turned her head, her stare piercing him. “I ran away from home to escape my forced marriage. I want to make my own decisions, especially about who I’ll marry and when.” She folded her arms. “Did you think it would be different because of what happened between us at O’Malley’s? That I’d fall into your arms like one of those dull girls who dream of marriage all of their life?”

He stared at her. Damn, maybe the incident at O’Malley’s hadn’t been anything serious for her. But then again… What about her reaction afterwards? Daniel’d told him she’d cried. Was she just gonna pretend that hadn’t happened?

“ _Sir_ , you’re overestimating your effect on women.”

Her comment stung, she had to know that. Jack narrowed his eyes.

“I told you how much I despise the Aschen’s attitude towards us humans. That they regard us as little more than slaves. Well, there’s not much of a difference between what the Aschen do, and what you and my father did with the marriage contract. If you think I’d be in any way happy about this, you’re out of your mind.”

Wait, what? Slave? Was she insinuating…? “Sam, I don’t consider you a slave. Nor a possession. I want us to be equal partners. Which is why I want to talk to you about the terms of our marriage, and how to proceed from here. I understand how you’re feeling.”

“Oh, please.” She gave a little snort that would have been cute had she not been furious. “With all due respect, you made a conscious decision when you signed the contract. A decision I never had the chance to make. So don’t tell me you understand how I feel.”

Jack sighed. “I wanted to help. I know what it’s like to get stuck in the breeding facilities. And I know what it’s like to have no say in your marriage contract. But it’s not my fault you’re gifted. It’s the damn system. I’ve been there, so—”

“Exactly. I never expected you of all people would…” She swallowed visibly, and for a moment pain flashed in her eyes. She blinked and lifted her chin. “Forget it, it doesn’t matter.”

“Hey, I’m not the only one at fault here.” Jack rose from his chair and leaned forward on his desk. Despite their obvious attraction to each other, she wasn’t even willing to give them a chance. Was she too stubborn, or too damn proud?

Blaming him for everything was irrational and unfounded. He hadn’t betrayed her, and in fact, he’d also never lied to her. “You lied to me. From the start. If you’d told me who you were, I could have—“

“What?” Her eyes darkened. “Told me you’re my husband? Taken me under your care?” She ran her hand through her hair and shook her head. “You know what, it doesn’t matter. You want to know how I want to proceed?  I want to continue my work here at camp. I want to go through the Stargate. That’s all I care about, sir.”

She straightened and then looked into his eyes. “I’ll work on your team and follow your orders. I’ll respect you as my commanding officer. But other than that, I want nothing to do with you.”

She couldn’t be serious. “Well, I am not okay with that.”

“What?” Her eyes widened.

“We were friends before this damn contract came up. And call me nuts, but I thought there was something between us. I wanna give us a try. I’m not saying a marriage would be perfect, but for crying out loud...” He sighed and walked around his desk to lean against it from the front. “Can’t we at least go back to how it was before you learned that I was your husband? Then we’ll see how it goes.”

She scowled at him. “I won’t date a man who thinks he can just marry a woman without her consent. And I don’t care about Aschen rules. What’s the point in fighting the Aschen when you blindly follow the rules they’ve laid out? You’re no better than them, no matter how much you tell yourself you’re different.”

He took a deep breath, his pulse racing. She couldn’t honestly believe he was as bad as the Aschen. What the hell was the matter with her? He looked at her face. Fire blazed in her eyes.

Alright. If she wanted him to be the enemy, he could be the enemy. “I see trying to talk this out isn’t working. Your father agreed to let you stay here because we’re married and I assured him I’d take care of you. By tonight I expect you to have moved all your things into my tent. That includes your sleeping bag. Understood?”

Her eyes widened and she dropped her arms. “You’re ordering me to share your bed?”

“I’m ordering you to share my _tent_. But if I remember correctly, we did the bed sharing before. You didn’t seem to be particularly opposed to it then. I guess we’ll slowly have to work back to that point.”

She pressed her lips together and fisted her hands. “I won’t share a tent with you. I’d rather share a tent with McKay.”

He pushed himself to a standing position. “Well, let me make myself clear, _ensign_ , since you seem to be under the impression I’m asking your opinion.” He really shouldn’t pull rank in this, but then again, she already thought he was no better than the Aschen, so it wasn’t as if he could sink lower in her standing. “That was neither a suggestion, nor a request. You can move into my tent, or you can leave camp and return home to your father. Are we clear?”

He was behaving like a jerk. Daniel probably would find worse insults for him. But Carter wasn’t earning a fairness award either.

“You can’t order me to do that.”

“Watch me.”

Gaze locked on his, she took a step towards him. Her eyes flashed and her jaw clenched. The soldier inside him knew what to expect, sensed the danger and saw the deadly fury in her movements. The same kind he’d seen the day she’d beat up Mitchell.

Her arm shot up, but before her fist connected with his face, he caught her wrist in a firm grip. Adrenaline flooded his veins. Heart pounding, he leaned in to her. “Don’t. Ever. Try that again.”

She made a frustrated sound trying to free her hand, but he didn’t let go. How could anybody be so damn stubborn? So angry about something that wasn’t even his fault in the first place.  And why the hell did she have to smell so good? Warmth radiated from her, and he felt her pulse race as he gripped her wrist tighter.

Damn, he wanted her. He jerked her forward and she almost stumbled against his chest. Her breath hitched when his hand tangled in her hair, and he pulled her head back.

Her eyes blazed. “Don’t you da—“

He cut her off, bruising her lips with his. She gave a yelp, and he used the opportunity to thrust his tongue into her mouth. She wriggled in his grip, then froze against him. 

There was no finesse about the kiss. He wasn’t gentle, or seductive. He wanted to punish her. For trying to hit him, for being so damn stubborn, for hating him so much.

He groaned as arousal shot through him. Her taste, her scent, her heat. The way her soft breasts brushed his chest as she gave a futile attempt at freeing herself. He wanted her. Who knew, maybe if he threw her down on his desk and took her until she trembled from pleasure and need, she’d freaking change her mind about this whole contract.

 

***

 

Sam pressed against O’Neill’s hard chest with her free hand, her struggles weakening as hot need shot through her and pooled in her abdomen.  An involuntary moan escaped her.

This couldn’t be. Why was she enjoying this? He rendered her immobile against him, her hand imprisoned in his grip, and she had no choice but to accept whatever he did to her. It was outrageous. And so hot at the same time. Her lips parted further, submitting to his explorations, her tongue darting out to tease his.

The reality of his proximity overwhelmed her. Heat almost made her legs buckle, and she grabbed his shoulder with a whimper.

She hated her body for betraying her like this. Hated herself for reciprocating.  Why couldn’t she resist his closeness, his scent, his taste? Kissing him shouldn’t be this good.

Even when he released her hand and loosened his grip on her hair, she didn’t move away. Instead, her fingers clasped his upper arm, pulling him closer to her. His warm hand trailed along her waist to her back and pressed her into his heat.

Only when oxygen became an issue did she break the kiss. She gave his lower lip a last nip, and took a few shaky breaths. Her head swam with his closeness. What was she doing?

She was angry at him. _Angry_ , damn it. For betraying her and signing the contract behind her back. And thinking he could woo her into it with his charms. And he almost succeeded.

Her eyes snapped open and she stared at him, still breathless. “I hate you.” Her voice came out a whisper.

If only it were true. If only her body didn’t belie her words. And he had the guts to give a little smirk.

Rage returning, she shoved against his chest until he let her go. Taken aback by the impact he had on her, she took a few steps back and ran her fingers through her hair.

What the hell was happening to her? She shouldn’t feel anything but anger. Now even more so, as his kiss had undoubtedly been a cheap way of manipulating her. Her jaw clenched. 

“I hate you,” she repeated. His taste still lingered on her lips and the arousal between her legs was proof that he’d gotten to her. Her cheeks burned. Was she really that easy? “Bastard. Did you get what you wanted?”

“I expect you to move your stuff into the tent before tonight.” O’Neill turned and walked back to his chair. “Dismissed.”

“Sir, you can’t just—“

“I said _dismissed_.”

She stared at him and hugged herself with her arms. Was that how he wanted to proceed? He was just going to order her around from now on? He would enforce their marriage contract and compel her to spend time with him? After all that had happened to him, and knowing what a forced liaison felt like, he was going to force this contract on her. Her throat tightened and her eyes burned.

“Yes, _sir_.” Her insides went numb. He’d given her a choice. Maybe getting away from him wouldn’t be a bad idea. Far away.

But what about her work and the Stargate?

She returned to her tent and packed the few belongings she had. Then she rolled up her sleeping bag and took the isolation mat and her pillows. Clasping everything to her chest, she marched up-hill to O’Neill’s tent.

Smaller than the standard tents, it still provided enough room for two people. Sam entered and dumped her stuff in one of the empty corners.

Without bothering to unpack, she walked up to the scientist’s camp to delve into work for the rest of the day. She’d sleep at the science tent. He was mistaken if he thought he’d gained anything by his ridiculous order.

 

***

 

Hours into the night, Sam was barely able to keep her eyes open anymore. She rested her arms on the desk, trying to get a few minutes of sleep. The blankets didn’t provide enough warmth since the work tents weren’t heated at night, whereas the personal tents were.

Shivering, she pulled the blankets around her and sighed. Damn, she’d have to get some sleep. She could just grab another sleeping bag and return to the tent she’d shared with Vala and Janet. Undoubtedly, O’Neill would learn about her defiance, though. And then he’d make good on his threat and send her home.

She sighed and laid her head on her arms. Why did it all have to be so screwed up? Why did he have to be the one who had signed the contract behind her back? Her heart ached.

Eventually, she turned off the light, and made her way down to camp. She didn’t want to give in to him, but she wanted even less to return home and sacrifice her work for the resistance.

She sneaked into O’Neill’s tent and turned on one of the petroleum lamps before she rolled out the isolation mat in the corner, opposite to where he was sleeping. Then she placed her sleeping bag on top of it.

“I didn’t think you were gonna show up.”

She spun around. O’Neill leaned up on his elbow and studied her, his gaze gentle. Jaw clenched, she opened her sleeping bag and crawled in fully clothed.

His eyebrows climbed. “Don’t you wanna change?”

“Will order me to, _sir_?” From now on, if he wanted her to do something he’d have to make it an order.

He sighed. “Of course not. Not my problem if you’re uncomfortable and can’t sleep. Don’t expect me to cut you any slack during the day if you’re sleep deprived, though.”

She scoffed and turned off the light. Then she shifted so she lay with her back to him and stared at the dark tent wall. Despite her clothes and the sleeping bag she shivered. She closed her eyes, and her throat constricted.

No, she wouldn’t cry. Not because of him. She wouldn’t give him that satisfaction.

 

***

 

So she’d decided to go into war mode. What had he expected after forcing her to change quarters to share a tent with him?

Jack had to commend her on her stamina. She developed a routine to avoid him. She’d come in as late as possible and slip into her sleeping bag fully dressed. When he woke up in the morning, she was already gone. She couldn’t be getting more than three or four hours of sleep every night.

They never exchanged a single word.

Even though he’d told her he wouldn’t cut her any slack, he refrained from assigning any missions to SG-1. Soon, her mindset would interfere with her duties. Her lack of sleep would catch up with her, and he preferred not to be in a potentially dangerous situation when that happened.

Everybody seemed to expect him to fix the situation. Just two days ago, Daniel had asked him with that audible reproach in his voice whether he thought he was handling the matter the right way.

 _The right way._ If only he knew how to make things right.

After almost a week, he about had it with Sam’s cold attitude and her avoiding him. If he ever wanted to get back to being friends with her, they had to resolve the situation. To do that, she needed to vent some of her anger with him. So why not give her a chance to do just that?

On Tuesday, he dismissed Mitchell as her close combat instructor and took over her training himself.

He read the confusion in her eyes as he took stance opposite her. Yeah, he was way too high a level for her, but this wasn’t about winning or losing.

“You wanted to hit me. So do it. Show me what you’ve got.” He probably should have sounded less smug. But from the way her eyes blazed, he’d hit the core of the problem. _Mission accomplished._

She started toward him. Her first punch was weak and he easily blocked it. Her second punch was unfocused. He grabbed her arm, twisted it around, and rendered her helpless against him.

Wow, did her anger affect her fighting skills that much? Good thing he’d taken SG-1 off active duty for now. He leaned in to her ear.

“Are you going easy on me, or are you really just that bad, Carter?” He released her and she spun around to face him, rage flashing across her eyes. “Come on, don’t hold back.”

She growled, and her next punch was a lot more forceful. He blocked most of its force, but that just seemed to fuel her anger. He allowed her to strike a few blows before he fought back. With every blow she missed, she became more uncoordinated. Her stance was a nightmare, her defense non-existent.

Damn, what the hell had happened to the good soldier he knew? She was back to before bootcamp, possibly worse.

He eased up on her. It wasn’t like her blows did any actual damage to him. Not the way she delivered them anyway.

She shook with fury. Finally, she turned and stormed off the training ground without looking back. She ignored him when he called her name.

Jack followed her into the tent they shared. The moment he entered, she spun around. His stomach tightened. Her cheeks were wet.

“Why are you doing this? Why are you trying to humiliate me?” Her sob almost broke his heart.

“Sam, I wasn’t—“

“Isn’t it enough you forced this marriage on me? Now you wanna show me I only have a chance against you if you let me? Why can’t you just leave me alone?” Her arms slumped, her body shaking.

Okay, that had so not been the purpose of this session. Damn. He couldn’t do anything right, could he? He crossed the distance between them and pulled her into his arms.

She hit his chest, his arms, his shoulders, until he finally caught her wrists and pressed them against him. Her fingers clasped the material of his shirt.

When he buried his face in her neck, her body trembled. His heart ached. God, she really hated him… When the hell had that happened?

He breathed in her scent, pressed a soft kiss against her neck. Her breath hitched, and she tensed. No matter how hard he tried, she wouldn’t agree to the contract. His heart grew heavy. If only he could hold her like this forever. If only she’d let him.

Unless he wanted a repeat of his first marriage, there was only one way to resolve this. His arms around her tightened, and he nuzzled her neck. Inhaled her scent one last time.

When she pushed against his chest, he opened his eyes and let her go. She brought as much distance as she could between them and wrapped her arms around her body.

His insides shattered. “Pack up your stuff.”

Her head jerked up, her gaze meeting his. “Please, sir. Don’t make me leave camp. I—”

“Carter.” His voice gentled. “Pack up your stuff and move back to Janet and Vala’s tent.”

Her eyes widened.

He raked his hand through his hair. “I shouldn’t have ordered you to share my tent. And I shouldn’t have kissed you. I’m sorry. I was out of line, and I promise it’ll never happen again.”

She still stared at him, unmoving.

He sighed. “We can’t dissolve the marriage contract without alerting the Aschen to our situation. Since you’re so opposed to a relationship, I’m willing to disregard it.”

She swallowed visibly. “You won’t hold me to fulfilling the contract any longer?”

“No.”

“And you won’t treat me differently from other soldiers because of it?”

“No.” Jack sat down on a box in the corner. “I just wanna be able to work with you. I want us to be friends like we were before.” If only he didn’t have to lose her.

“Were we ever friends?” Her voice was a whisper. “I never even knew you.”

“I’m not the one who lied about my identity and where I’m from.” His face gentled. “We both made mistakes. I for one wish I’d never signed that damn contract. But I can’t change that now. I’d like it if you considered me a friend again. Not right away… but maybe we can get there again. Someday.”

She nodded, her eyes glistening. “Maybe… _sir._ ” She kneeled down and started packing up her things.

“Alright.” He cleared his throat. “I’ll see you at tomorrow’s mission briefing then.”

Without another word, he turned and left the tent. Emptiness threatened to consume him. This was it.

_It’s over._

Just because of some stupid slip of paper…

He should’ve listened to his gut feeling back when Jacob’d asked him to sign it. Why hadn’t he just refused? And why did the thing that bound them together have to keep them apart?


	21. Competition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> This version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

_4 weeks later_

Sam’s head jerked up. There it was again. A distinct rustling sound behind the thick stone walls of the temple. Insects crawling? Sand falling down?

She listened carefully, and then leaned over the console she’d been working on for the past few hours.

It was the seventh day they’d spent on this planet, evaluating the technology they’d found at the temple and the immediate surroundings. Daniel had neither recognized the language in the inscriptions nor the nature of the technology. Everything pointed towards a new, previously unknown alien race, and so the mission had been awarded priority.

Another rustling behind the walls.

She brushed the back of her hand over her forehead and shifted. Damn heat. And the darkness in this temple chamber wasn’t helping either. She didn’t hear anything from outside. Would anybody hear her screams for help if there was a problem?

Bad train of thought. She needed to focus on the task at hand. Sam leaned over the console again and looked at two circuits through her magnifying glass. Where did this piece of technology draw its power from? She was sure it was connected to the strange dark screen set into the wall, but neither of them appeared to be a source of power.

She squinted and tried to reroute power with her tweezers.

“Whatcha doing?”

With a yelp she jolted up, her heart pounding loud in her ears.

“Whoa.” O’Neill raised his hands, the hint of a smirk playing at his lips. “Easy. Tense much?”

“Oh God.” She panted and leaned against the console. “Sorry, sir. There’s strange sounds coming from behind these walls and I haven’t been able to figure out the source.”

“Ghosts?” His eyes twinkled.

She cocked her head and gave him a half-annoyed look. “Not funny, sir.”

Leaning onto the console, she held his gaze longer than intended, then swallowed and focused her attention back on the alien device. During the past weeks, things between them had slowly returned to normal.

Nothing in O’Neill’s behavior indicated they were married. He wasn’t being overprotective, nor did he pull her out of missions as she had feared. He kept his distance at camp, obviously respecting her wish not to have anything to do with him.

Occasionally on a mission or after a briefing he’d come in and ask her some banal question about her report or some piece of technology. He even appeared to interrupt her a lot less now when she went into one of her long-winded explanations.

She sneaked a glance at him as he strolled through the room, studying an inscription on a wall. Cocking his head and squinting his eyes as though the drawing would magically make sense. She lowered her head and smiled.

“Daniel thinks the mural represents an ancient harvest ceremony.”

“Does he?” He scratched his head, stared at the image for a bit longer and then turned. “I don’t see it.”

She fought another smile.

“If you want, I can stay and keep you company for a bit.” He waved his hand around. “You know, scare the ghosts away.”

Her heart skipped a beat. She swallowed hard. “I’m not afraid of the dark, sir. You’d be bored. I’ll just be working and there’s not much to do.” Although… with those weird sounds, it would be nice to have some company. 

“You could, you know, explain what you’re doing.” He walked over and leaned in to look at the console, his face inches from hers. Sam glanced at him from the corner of her eye, and shifted when his scent made her light-headed. Warmth radiated from him.

She cleared her throat. “Well, sir, I’m trying to figure out which circuit controls what, and what this device in the wall might be used for.” She gave him a weak smile. “It’s really not that interesting. Up to now, I haven’t had the slightest bit of success.”

“Ah.” O’Neill nodded and straightened, then strolled over to the wall. “This device over here?”

“Don’t go any closer.”

He turned and looked at her, his brows furrowed.

“Sorry, sir.” Sam winced. “It appeared last night when Colonel Sheppard stepped too close to the wall. The dark hole in the middle of the device opened and the lightshow started inside. It seems to be activated by proximity. Nobody should get too close to it until we’ve figured out exactly what it’s used for.”

“Gotcha.” O’Neill stuck his hands into his pockets. “So, how long do you think this is gonna take?”

“Well.” She looked over her devices and notes. “Frankly, sir, I don’t know. Are you planning to move out?”

“No, I was just wondering…” O’Neill touched the edge of the console with his finger, leaning in as if he was studying the crystals with interest. “…how about dinner?”

“Um.” She swallowed and straightened, her eyes widening. “What?”

“SG-4 returned from Earth and brought sandwiches and beer for everybody.” He shrugged and cleared his throat. “So… we should hurry before McKay eats all the sandwiches. You know his appetite.”

Dinner? With him? Her pulse quickened. Definitely a bad idea.

“I have a lot of work, sir, and this is gonna take a while.”

“You could take a break.” His eyes gleamed, his gaze making her skin tingle. “Come on, Carter, you really wanna have to eat emergency rations later on?”

No, she didn’t. A sandwich and beer did sound good.

“There’s turkey sandwiches.”

She stared at him. How did he know her favorite sandwich? They’d never talked about it. She exhaled and nodded. “Alright, just let me finish this series of tests. The crystals in here are arranged in such a complex order that I need to stick to the system I started with and finish the complete line, or I’ll be lost and have to start over.”

“Great.” He gave her an open smile. Her stomach flip flopped. His dark eyes seemed to burn right through her, to stir something inside of her she wanted to bury. How the hell did a man hold such power over her emotions? Not even Larek had made her feel this way.

“Hey guys.”

They turned. Sheppard strolled into the room, followed by an annoyed looking McKay.

“Jack, do you mind explaining to McKay that we can’t move half his laboratory equipment here?” Sheppard strolled over to the console and looked over Sam’s shoulder.

McKay scoffed. “I’m not asking for half the laboratory. But you can’t honestly expect this to move fast if you refuse to give me the right equipment. There are tons of tests I can’t perform here. Would you rather I move this entire temple back to Earth?”

O’Neill pressed his fingers to his temples. “Alright kids. Calm down. Nobody’s moving anything anywhere.”

Sam bent over the console again and stifled a chuckle as McKay walked over to O’Neill. _Here we go. One of McKay’s discussions._

“Wouldn’t wanna be him…” Sheppard winced.

Sam gave him a cheeky grin. “Who? McKay, or O’Neill?”

Sheppard smiled at her. “Both, I guess.” He strolled around the console and studied the crystals she had hooked her measuring device to. “Do you know what that wall thing does yet?”

“Right now, I can’t even get this to work.”

“Come on, not even a clue yet?” The soldier strolled around her. “A wild guess?”

“Colonel, this is science, not a guessing game.” She squinted to attach another node to a micro-circuit. She looked at the display of her measuring device, and her heart sank. Still nothing. Damn. “At this point it could be anything, from a weapon to an entertainment system. This technology is so far beyond anything we’ve ever seen before I don’t even know where to—”

A scream cut her off. She spun around. Sheppard had apparently stepped too close to the device in the wall. The black screen had somehow extended forward and seized his head.

“God!” She dropped the cables and rushed over to the device, where she tore at the black, hand-like material holding the soldier. After a few seconds it released him. Sheppard dropped to the ground, body trembling, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling.

“Colonel Sheppard.” Sam knelt down and slapped his cheeks. Ice poured into her veins when he didn’t react.

“What happened?” O’Neill hurried towards them, closely followed by McKay.

“I…I don’t know, sir.” She felt Sheppard’s pulse with trembling fingers. He was alive, thank God. His pulse was erratic, though, and he was unresponsive. “The machine just grabbed him and…and… I don’t know what it did.”

O’Neill went to his knees and hit the younger man’s cheek. “John, can you hear me?”

Sam studied the wall device. No more lights. The center screen had gone dark. All the power seemed to have been depleted.

“What did it do to him? What’s it for?” McKay stepped closer to look into the center of the device.

“I don’t know. I wasn’t able to find out yet.” Her voice shook.

“So, what? You thought it was a good idea to just let him put his head into that thing?”

She _what_? “Rodney, I did not _let_ him do anything. Usually people don’t just run around in here and stick their heads into things we know nothing about. How was I supposed to expect—”

“Well, it’s Sheppard.” Still that accusing undertone, as though this whole situation was her fault. “He always touches things, you know how he is.”

“I didn’t even realize he was getting that close to the wall. One second he was standing right next to me, and the next—”

“Yeah, well, if you’d been paying attention—”

“You were only a few meters away over there. And if you hadn’t been so engaged in one of your self-serving discussions—”

“Hey!” O’Neill’s voice dripped anger. Both turned. Sam swallowed hard when she caught his glare. “Would you two knock it off? Sheppard needs medical attention.”

“I merely stated how irresponsible—” Rodney cut himself off when O’Neill glowered at him.

“I. Don’t. Care. McKay, help me take Sheppard back to the medical tent. Carter, find out what this thing did to him.”

“Given that Sam hasn’t been very successful in her analysis so far, maybe I should be the one to—” McKay waved at the device. O’Neill straightened with a frown. McKay swallowed visibly, and nodded. “Yes, colonel. Back to camp.”

“Carter, inform me as soon as you’ve got something.”

“Yes, sir.” She watched as McKay and O’Neill carried the unconscious Sheppard out of the temple.

Damn, was McKay right? She should’ve paid attention. Yes, Sheppard was her commanding officer, but in matters of science, she outranked him. Sighing, she leaned against the console and closed her eyes.

 _Please let him be okay._ How was she supposed to know he’d stick is head so close to the screen? _Sheppard always touches things._ McKay was right. In her two weeks duty on SG-2, she herself had been witness to the colonel’s reckless curiosity. She should’ve known.

She turned around, then froze. All previously lit crystals in the console were dead. Releasing a frustrated growl, she slammed the screwdriver onto the console.

Without power, there’d be no way for her to determine what the purpose of this device had been. Or how to repair it.

 

***

 

Sam pulled the flap that covered the entrance aside and entered the medical tent.

“Hey.” Her smile shook when she approached Sheppard, who lay on a field bed. From the looks of it, he’d recovered, or at least he was on his way to it.  She interrupted a lively discussion between him and Janet about leaving the medical tent.

“Carter. Please tell me you found something to prove to Janet I’m fine.”

She winced and shook her head. “Sorry, sir. The device is dead, and our only clue are the symbols on the walls and console. So far Daniel hasn’t been able to make heads or tails of them.”

“Damn. Did you at least bring me something to read?”

“I’m afraid not.” She shifted awkwardly when his gaze rested on her. “I can bring you something later on, if you want. I actually came here to see how you were.” She swallowed and met his gaze. “Sir, about what happened—”

“Is McKay still blaming you for it?” Sheppard sighed. When she raised her eyebrows in confusion, he shrugged. “Janet told me.”

“He has a point. I should have told you not to get close. I’m sorry. If I hadn’t been so immersed in my tests—”

“Carter.” He shook his head, a gentle smile softening his face. “I have a tendency to touch things and try them out even if you science geeks tell me not to. This time it went wrong. No big deal.” He sat up and studied her. “Is Jack giving you a hard time, too?”

“What? No. Not at all.” She shook her head. “He didn’t say anything.”

He held her gaze for a long moment. “Good. If he does, let me know. I’ll handle it.”

“If he does what?”

Startled, Sam spun and looked at O’Neill who entered the tent.

Sheppard scratched his head. “I was just telling Carter that what happened to me wasn’t her fault. And she should tell me if you give her a hard time about it.”

“Ah.” O’Neill’s gaze rested on her longer than what would have been normal before he turned to Sheppard. “I’m sure Carter’d be more than capable of talking to me herself if she felt treated unfairly. Besides, I was actually gonna give _you_ a speech for just sticking your head into alien technology. But I guess being stuck in the medical tent for two days kinda makes my point. No offense, doc.” He smiled at Janet, who shot him a grumpy look.

Sam bit her lower lip against a smile.

“Any results yet?” O’Neill leaned against the table and folded his arms.

“I’m afraid not.” Janet looked up from the file she was studying. “Preliminary tests indicate there’s no permanent damage, but since nobody seems to know what the alien machine did to him, I don’t know which tests to run, except for standard ones. I’d love to keep him here for regular blood work and monitoring his vitals to rule out any long term effects on his body.”

“Alright. Keep me informed.” He straightened, then hesitated for a moment, looking at Sam. “Carter? A word?”

“Sure.” She glanced at Sheppard. “I’ll come by again later and see if I can bring you some reading materials. In the meantime, don’t make Janet angry.”

He grimaced, and his reaction made her laugh, before she hurried to follow O’Neill out of the tent.

“Did you find a way to recharge the device’s power source?” O’Neill asked when she caught up with him.

She raised her eyebrows. Why did he sound so grouchy all of a sudden?

“No, sir. I’m not even sure where it drew its power from.”

“Any results on the language written on it?”

She stumbled after him. Apparently he didn’t even care that she struggled to keep up.

“No.” Panting, she quickened her step. “But frankly, that’s more Daniel’s field of expertise. I’m really not sure how I’m supposed to help him.”

“I see.”

“Sir?” Why wasn’t he even looking at her? “Is something wrong? If you’re angry at me for not paying attention to what Sheppard was doing—?”

“It wasn’t your fault, Carter. Let it go.”

She closed her mouth. Why the hell did he sound so angry? “Um, if that was all, sir, may I be dismissed? I promised Colonel Sheppard I’d bring him some books and afterwards—”

“Sure, go ahead.”

He stopped abruptly and spun. Sam took a sharp breath when she ran right into his chest. Hands on her upper arms, he steadied her. She lifted her head and froze at the expression in his eyes.

“I’d appreciate it if you refrained from complaining to Sheppard about my command decisions in the future, though.”

“What?” She stared at him. “Sir, I don’t understand. I didn’t—”

“Ah, forget it.” He let go of her and scratched his head. “Go. Find those books.” He turned and marched up the hill toward the scientist’s tents.

She stood frozen for another moment. What was the matter with him? Why was he acting like she’d done something wrong? She’d defended him in front of Sheppard. And she hadn’t complained at all. She hadn’t even been the one who started the conversation.

Ah, well. It wasn’t her problem if O’Neill was in a bad mood. Fisting her hands, she marched back downhill to Sheppard’s personal tent.

 

***

 

_Next Day_

_Bzzzzzzzzzz….._

Jack slapped his palm against his neck while he trudged through the high grass. “Damn things. Remind me to add mosquito repellant to the list of required field pack material.”

“Yes, sir.” Carter’s voice drifted from close behind him.

Those diplomatic missions were worse than one of the scientific ones. Long hours, long talks. Overall boring. Yes, the Krushar were nice people, but there was nothing he could do to advance the process.

Daniel’d been the one insisting that, despite the Krusha’s lack of advanced technology, they’d be valuable trading partners. So he’d let him figure out the details.

How the hell had a planet as agrarian as this even been spared from occupation by either the Aschen or the Goa’uld? He refrained from voicing the question again. Last time he’d done so, Carter’d launched into a lengthy explanation about the Krushar planet being located at the far edge of the galaxy in one of the outermost solar systems.

During the summer in its northern hemisphere, when the planet was at the outer side of the ellipse around its sun, apparently almost no stars were visible in the night sky. The other half of the year, they could see the stars of the entire galaxy.

Of course, Carter had told him much more than that. But after the star part, which had actually been interesting, he’d stopped listening.

“How long do you think they’ll take?” He turned his head to glance at her. She looked annoyed, though he couldn’t tell whether it was because she was equally bored, or because he made her run through a field. On a hot summer day, with mosquitos buzzing all around them. For no purpose whatsoever.

“I’m not sure, sir. As Daniel said, it’s a del—”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s a delicate process.” Last thing he needed was her throwing Daniel’s words back at him.

“It was your idea to explore the fields around the village.” Was that snippiness? He raised his eyebrows at her. She swallowed visibly. “It’s only been half an hour since we left, so they probably haven’t made much progress, sir. But if you prefer to go back to check—”

“Carter, if I have to spend one more minute listening to Daniel politely list things we might offer in return for a sack of grain, I’m gonna lose it.” He scanned the landscape. Nothing but fields and rocks in the distance. “That way.” He pointed towards a little group of trees. At least there’d be a bit of shade there. Carter followed him.

“Sir, with all due respect, what exactly is it you’re looking for?”

“I’m not looking for anything, Carter, I’m just…exploring the surroundings. Enjoying the landscape.” Yeah, right. He waved his hand around and hit the other side of his neck when one of the little monsters got him again.

Why the hell were they even here? This was SG-2’s mission. If Sheppard hadn’t been so reckless, he’d be here now wrestling with local insect life. Jack’s mood dropped even more. Sheppard.

He’d recognized the glint in the soldier’s eyes when he’d talked to Carter yesterday. Sheppard was flirting with her. And she seemed to welcome his advances. Damn. His gut wrenched. Women seemed to find Sheppard attractive, and he was a lot closer to Carter in age. They even shared a few interests. Sheppard had a curiosity for the sciences he himself lacked. And most importantly, Sheppard wasn’t a total jerk—like he’d been.

If Carter was into him, there wasn’t a damn thing he’d be able to do about that. He couldn’t order them not to pursue a relationship. Yet, he wished he could smack the younger man in the face.

He closed his eyes. This was bad. Sheppard was his friend. Carter was on the verge of getting there again. Why the hell couldn’t he just let it go? She’d made clear she didn’t wanna be with him, so he had no right to be possessive with her. Just… the thought of Sheppard touching her…

“Sir, I don’t think there’s anything in that direction except for the forest.”

“We’ll see once we get there. Maybe we can find some old ruins for Daniel to get all exc—”

The ground under his feet broke away. Damn rabbits. It wasn’t until he heard Carter’s scream and didn’t stop falling, that he realized he hadn’t stepped into a rabbit hole.

“Sir!” She tried to grab his arm. Stupid move. Then her eyes widened when she lost balance and fell after him headfirst. Really stupid move.


	22. Cobwebs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> This version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

“Carter.”

Sam stirred with a groan. Her head pounded and her mouth was filled with grains of sand and dirt. Coughing, she lifted herself up and winced. Everything hurt. Her hip, her shoulder, her back.

“Ouch.” Disoriented, she fought her growing dizziness.

“Tell me about it.”

She faltered. Close to her, O’Neill’s voice sounded strained, like he was in pain.

“Sir, where are you?” Her voice echoed hollowly. She froze. Where the hell was she? Last thing she remembered was walking behind O’Neill through a field and then… Oh God. The ground had given way under them. She looked up and felt around her. Sand. Stone… a few plants. They’d been buried alive.

“I’m over here. You okay?”

O’Neill’s voice drew her out of her rising panic. “Yeah. Relatively speaking. I can’t see anything. Are you okay, sir?”

“I’ve been better.” Another groan. “It’s dark and I can’t reach my flashlight.”

She felt for her backpack and found hers, then turned it on.

“Oh boy.” She shone the light around her. It looked like they’d landed in an old mining tunnel with large, smooth rock faces rising up about ten meters. She lifted the light towards the ceiling. Somewhere up there had to be an opening where they’d fallen through.

“Don’t even bother.” O’Neil sat up, face grimacing. “We slid through a lot of dirt on our way down here. We’re not gonna get back up there.”

She looked at him when she heard the strain in his voice. “What’s wrong, sir?”

“I think my arm’s broken. Ankle’s hurting pretty badly, too.”

“Oh my God.” She crawled over to him. “How long was I out?”

“I don’t know. A while. Gave me quite a scare.”

“Sorry, sir.” She touched his arm. His hand twitched and he clenched his jaw. “You sure it’s broken, sir?” Maybe it was only bruised, or maybe he’d dislocated his shoulder. She tried to pull his jacket off.

He shouted, making her jump, and grasped her hand. “I’m sure, Carter. It’s broken. _Stop_.” Gritting his teeth, he laid his head back.

Sam furrowed her brow. Yeah, definitely broken. Not good.

O’Neill tried to give her a nonchalant look, and failed. “Not my first broken bone.”

“Then you know I have to check the extent of the injury. I’ll have to make you a sling.”

“Carter, it’s fine.”

She gave a helpless sigh. “Alright, let me take a look at your ankle then.”

Jaw clenched, he lay his head back. She opened the laces on his boots. He winced when she pulled off one boot. No screaming. A good sign. She bent his foot left and right. He gave a hiss.

“The good news is, it’s not broken, sir.” She sat back on her heels. “Bad news is, it’s sprained and you shouldn’t walk around on it too much.” She moved back to his head and again tried to remove his jacket.

“Easy.”

She flinched in sympathy. “I’m sorry, sir. I have to see how bad it is.”

“I know.”

Little beads of sweat formed on his forehead. She softened her touch, and changed her position. She leaned on his chest and eased the jacket off.

He panted. “Carter.”

She looked at him, startled. “What’s wrong, sir?”

“My chest hurts. I think I may have bruised a few ribs, so I’d appreciated it if you didn’t…”

“Sorry.”

“I think I need a doctor. No offense to your medical skills.”

“None taken, but you might have to hang in there for a bit. We need to get out of here.”

“Yeah, well.” He grunted. “The radios don’t work down here. I tried.”

“We’re gonna have to get out by ourselves, or find a place where the signal can penetrate the rocks.” She looked at her commanding officer’s arm. “I’ll put your arm in a sling. That should ease your pain for now. For that I’m gonna have to move it though.”

“Yeah, I was afraid you were gonna…. Ah, god!”

She looked at him desperately. “Sorry. I’m so sorry.” She searched through her backpack until she’d found the box with emergency medication and opened it. Painkillers… there should be painkillers somewhere. There. She pulled a little package out. Not nearly strong enough, but they’d have to suffice for now.

“Take these.” Gently, she fed him the pills and then held his head up so that he could swallow them down with water.

“I don’t think they’re gonna help much.” He tried to give her a smug smirk. “Don’t worry, I’ve been through worse. I’ll be around for a while.” Her gaze held his. He had to see the fear on her face, because his expression gentled. “Carter, we’re gonna get out.”

“I know, sir. I know.” She swallowed and forced herself to smile. “Shouldn’t I be the one cheering you up?”

Determined, she walked up to their backpacks and emptied the contents of both of them on the ground, searching for something of use.

O’Neill watched her. “Carter… Whatcha doing?”

“I need to treat your arm, sir. Then I’ll have to see about your ankle. I’ll need you to be able to hop.”

Their backpacks offered few medical supplies. Neither of them had packed for a field mission. This was supposed to be a comfortable field trip to a town with friendly people. She looked at the useless supplies for a moment. Then she shrugged her jacket off and pulled her shirt over her head.

O’Neil shifted, staring at her. “Keep going…”

She cocked her head at his smug grin and managed a weak smile. “This is a sling for your arm.”

She sat back down next to him. He grimaced.

“This is gonna hurt, isn’t… Gnnnh…”

She lifted his arm carefully without giving him warning, and placed the shirt under it. His breathing quickened until he was panting. Oh God, was he hyperventilating? She stilled and placed her hands against his cheeks.

“Don’t… do that… again…” He panted.

“I’m trying my best, sir.” Her throat tightened. If only she had something stronger for his pain. Carefully, she took the arms of the shirt and wrapped them around his neck, tying them in a knot. Not a state of the art sling, but it should stabilize his arm enough.

She reached for her bottle of water and lifted it to his lips. He took a few gulps. “I’m done, sir. Just lie back and rest for a moment.”

She wiped the back of her hand across her face. The dust and dirt on her skin were starting to itch.

“You should go and follow the tunnels, Carter. See if you can find an exit somewhere.” O’Neill looked at her.

“We will, sir. As soon as you can move.” She searched through their belongings. “We’re good on water and emergency rations for about two days.”

“Yeah.” Groaning, O’Neill sat up. “I don’t plan on staying down here that long.”

She turned her head. “I didn’t say we would be, sir. As soon as you’re strong enough, we’ll find a way out of here.”

Provided there was a way. Her stomach clenched. If this was actually a mine, what if it had collapsed, and there was no way out? What if nobody would ever find them down here? What if they starved to death?

She grabbed the bandages, ignoring her increasing dizziness. _Focus. Don’t overthink!_ She started wrapping them around his ankle to stabilize the bone. He most likely still wouldn’t be able to walk far, but he could wrap his good arm around her.

When she was done, she leaned back against the wall. Her head pounded stronger now. She closed her eyes and reached up to her forehead. Wet and sticky. She opened her eyes and looked at the traces of dark red on her fingers.

O’Neill pulled himself over to her and handed her the bottle of water. “Your head injury doesn’t look good.”

She gave him a thankful smile and took a large sip. “It looks worse than it is, sir. I’m fine.” She winced against the stinging pain. “Just a mild headache.”

“Right.” O’Neill held her gaze for a long time. Then his face gentled. “Carter, you’re gonna be faster without me. Go see if you can find an exit. Then you can return with help.”

“No.” She shook her head firmly.

O’Neill’s face hardened. “That wasn’t a request, _ensign_.”

She lifted her chin and pushed herself away from the wall. “We have no idea if these tunnels are stable, or what we’re dealing with down here. I won’t leave you behind.”

“You’re disobeying a direct order.” He grunted in pain. 

“Well, sir, you can put me in confinement once we’re back at camp for all I care. I won’t leave you here. Deal with it.” She started throwing things into one of the backpacks, and took a moment before she dared a look at him. Was he angry with her insubordination?

He had to know, if she actually did as he asked, chances were slim she’d ever find her way back to him. And with his injuries his condition might worsen. If she left him behind, she had no doubt he’d die. Her blood ran cold. _I won’t let that happen._

She closed the backpack. All other items wouldn’t be of any use down here, and with his injuries it was best to lose unnecessary gear.

“Can you get up?” She moved back over to him while she fastened the backpack on her shoulders.

“I’ll try.”

“Wrap your arm around my shoulders, sir.” 

His face contorted as he got up and tried not to move his broken arm in the process. She steadied him as best as she could. He took a first step, then stumbled against her with a curse. She tried not to lose balance.

“Sir.” She grabbed him around the chest, remembering too late what he’d said earlier about his ribs. “What are you doing? You shouldn’t use your left foot.”

He panted. “I don’t think you can carry my weight enough to steady me for that. No offense, Carter, but I’m quite a bit heavier than you.”

She cocked her head with a scowl. “I’m stronger than I look, sir. Besides, let that be my problem. I definitely won’t be able to carry your weight if you pull another stunt like that. Come on, this way.” She indicated the way forward with her flashlight.

He growled. “Funny, last I checked, I was the one in charge.” He hopped one step after the other in the direction she’d indicated, his arm firmly wrapped around her shoulder.

She stopped. “You are, sir. You wanna go back and take the other way?”

She was sure he knew she was getting smart with him again. He held her gaze, then glanced over his shoulder at the way they’d come. They’d already moved two meters, a vast distance given his sprained ankle.

“No. Your way’s fine.”

Panting, she smirked. As much as she hated to admit it, he had been right. With his height and muscles, he was considerably heavier than she’d estimated.

They made their way through the tunnel. Their steps echoed in the darkness in a way that made Sam’s skin crawl. Hopefully they weren’t moving further underground into an area filled with toxic gas.

When they reached a crossroads, she pulled out a lighter and a piece of chalk from the backpack to mark their way. She flicked on the lighter and watched the flame. There was no visible breeze anywhere, so they’d have to go on guts. “I suggest we take the right path. It seems to lead upwards.”

O’Neill’s gaze rested on her.

“What?” She raised her eyebrows.

“Nothing.”

Sam flung her arm around him again to steady him. When he grunted in pain, she glanced at him. “Do you want to rest some more?”

“I’m fine.”

Yeah. Right. His strained voice indicated he was anything but. Damn his foolish pride. Then again, his injuries wouldn’t get any better even if he rested, so it was best to move as fast as they could. Hopefully they’d make it for their next Stargate window.

Another five minutes passed in silence before they stopped a moment to rest.

“Where’d you learn the fire thing?” O’Neill pressed his hand against his side and looked at her.

“The lighter you mean? Sheppard taught me while I was working on SG-2. We explored a cave system on P2Y-412.”

“Ah.” He winced and straightened. “Sheppard.”

Okay, there was that grouchy undertone again. That couldn’t be just her imagination. What the hell was going on between him and Sheppard? And why was he taking his anger out on her?

“You wanna tell me what’s wrong, sir?” She fixed her gaze on him.

Jack raised his eyebrows.

“Sheppard.” She folded her arms. “You’ve been in a foul mood since he got his head stuck in that alien device.”

“Nothing’s wrong.” He averted his gaze. Something was definitely going on.

“Please. I wouldn’t even care, but every time I mention his name you get snippy with me.”

“Carter, watch the tone. This is neither the place nor the time to talk about this.” He leaned against the wall behind him.

“I beg to differ. I think it’s the perfect place and time. It’s only us. If I’ve done something wrong, or if you have a problem with my performance, just tell me.”

“I don’t.”

“Okay, then what?”

When he remained silent, she shook her head with an angry snort. “Fine, sir, if you don’t want to talk about it, then don’t. But I’m telling you, if you snap at me one more time—”

“Sheppard likes you.” O’Neill’s glare pinned her to the spot.

“What?” She dropped her arms. “I like him too. He’s a good guy and we’re friends.”

“Sam.”

She froze at the intimate address and swallowed when his gaze met hers.

“I wasn’t talking about friendship. Sheppard’s flirting with you.”

Her breath caught. “No he isn’t.” Was he? Granted, Sheppard had been very attentive recently, made a lot of jokes, found excuses to talk to her… _Oh boy._ Her throat went dry. “It’s how he is. He flirts with everybody. It doesn’t mean anything.”

O’Neill ran his head across his forehead. “You really don’t have much experience with this whole dating thing, do you? Believe me, friendship’s the last thing on his mind.”

“Oh.” No, that couldn’t be. Yes, Sheppard had a reputation with the ladies, and it was also well-known that he only had short affairs. But she was his subordinate. On the other hand, he had hit on her last team-night at O’Malleys. And… all those invites recently? Asking her if she wanted to have lunch with him? Or dinner? What if she’d misjudged his intentions? She closed her eyes with a groan. How the hell could she be so damn naïve?

“Are you interested in him?” O’Neill’s voice gentled.

“What?” She snapped her eyes open and stared at him.

“It’s a simple question.”

“And none of your business.”

Hurt flashed across his face before his features hardened. She sighed. That had been unnecessarily harsh. He’d only been concerned about… She held her breath and scanned his face. No, he hadn’t been concerned. He was jealous. He thought she and Sheppard… Her stomach tightened. 

“I didn’t join the resistance to find a boyfriend, sir. That includes Colonel Sheppard. He’s a superior officer. A good friend. Nothing more.” She’d have to make that clear to the colonel very soon, before he got his hopes up.

“Ah.” He nodded, his expression softening.

Sam narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m only telling you this as a courtesy.”

“Yeah. Got that.”

Why the hell did she feel the need to make clear to O’Neill that she wasn’t interested in Sheppard? He didn’t have a right to be jealous. Was this still about the damn marriage contract? But he’d said he wasn’t gonna hold her to it anymore. Was there more? What if he…?

A distant screech drew her out of her thoughts. She froze against the cold wall and listened into the silence.

O’Neill shook his head. “Carter, I didn’t mean to imply I have a right to know…”

“Shhhh.”

She crossed the distance between them and placed her hand over his mouth. Something was here. In the tunnel. She shone the flashlight the way they’d come. Then the other side. The hair on her neck stood up, blood rushing in her ears.

O’Neill looked at her, his eyebrows raised. They stood frozen for another moment. Silence. Sam lowered her hand from his mouth. Listening into the dark, she placed her index finger to her lips.

“Carter?” O’Neill’s voice echoed eerily.

“I’m sure I heard something, sir. Here in the tunnel. Screeching, and a scraping sound.”

They went quiet, and both listened to the hollow silence in the cave system. The sound of water dripping down echoed from somewhere in the distance.

O’Neill smirked. “Are you sure you didn’t just—”

Another scraping sound. And from the way his brows scrunched, she knew this time he’d heard it too.

Scratching, like something scuttling along the cave-floor. It stopped, then started again. Stopped. Started again, getting louder. Oh God, something was coming towards them.

She pulled the gun out of the holster at her hip and placed it in O’Neill’s hand. Then she lifted her P-90.

“Careful where you shoot, sir. The bullets might ricochet off the walls and hit us.”

The sounds stopped. Silence. Sam held her breath, listening. Nothing. Maybe it’d just been sand or rocks falling down from the walls.

After a moment O’Neill leaned in to her ear. “Let’s get moving.”

“Yes, sir.” Senses still piqued, she lowered her gun and wrapped his arm around her neck to steady him.

They’d taken two steps when she felt it. Behind her. She couldn’t pinpoint what it was. A breeze? An intuition?

She pushed O’Neill against the wall out of the way, spun and raised her gun at the same moment. She shot. Once, twice, three times into the darkness. A loud screeching from right in front of her made her skin crawl. Then silence.

She grabbed the flashlight from the ground and pointed it at the tunnel.

An enormous spider-like creature, almost half as big as her, had crawled towards them. Now it lay on its back, its long hairy legs twitching in a futile attempt to right itself. Apparently all of her bullets had hit. 

The creature rolled its legs up against its body and released a last screech, then stilled.

Sam swallowed and took a step back. Her stomach turned. Holy crap. She’d never suffered from arachnophobia, but with a creature this big… Judging from its behavior it had been about to attack them. And apparently it was able to see in the dark—much better than they could.

She studied it and shuddered as its eight black eyes stared back at her. They had to get out of here.

O’Neill’s low groan made her turn her attention away from the nightmarish creature. He was lying on the ground against the wall.

Oh god, had one of her bullets ricocheted and hit him? She bent down. He moved and fought to sit up. Thank God. Apparently, it had only been her abrupt push that had knocked him down. He held his chest, struggling for breath.

“Sir?” When she touched his touched, he opened his eyes.  

“Little… warning… would be nice… next time… Carter.”

He’d fallen on the side with the broken arm. She winced.

“Sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to push you so hard.”

“It’s fine, considering what was about to attack us.” His face still contorted in pain as he looked at the dead creature a couple of meters away. “What the hell is that?”

“Looks like a spider, sir.”

“Well, that’s one big-ass spider.” O’Neill struggled to stand.

“Yes, sir. Unfortunately, like all spiders, it seems to be carnivorous. It just goes for larger prey.”

“You mean _us_?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“Let’s hope it doesn’t have any buddies.”

A loud screeching sounded from somewhere in the distance. They stared at each other.

“Guess that answers that.” O’Neill straightened and flung his arm around her shoulders. “Let’s get outta here. I don’t wanna become dinner for one of those things.”

 

***

 

Sam panted and ran the back of her hand across her forehead. O’Neill’s weight rested heavier on her.

During the past two hours, his condition had increasingly worsened. He’d started running a fever, and he’d become weaker. He seemed to be on the brink of unconsciousness now.

She refused to give in to panic. She wouldn’t give up, and she wouldn’t leave him behind. There was no way he’d be able to defend himself against the spiders, even if she left him all the weapons in the world.

When they reached the end of the tunnel, a huge cavern stretched in front of them. This was indeed a mine, judging from the tracks leading into dozens of smaller tunnels on every side. Whoever built this place had apparently abandoned it and left in a hurry before it was finished.

Sam turned her head to scan the roof of the cavern. It was too high and dimly lit for her to see anything, even though, way up high, sunlight leaked in through a few smaller openings.

There was no way they’d reach them. On the other side of the large cavern, a makeshift wooden hut stood against the flat stone wall. Debris piled in front of it. At least it was a start. Maybe she’d find something there to help them.

“Sir, we need to get over to the other side of the cavern. It doesn’t look like the miners took a lot with them when they left. Maybe I can find a floor plan of these mines and get one of those old mining wagons to work.”

He nodded weakly. Had he even understood her? Sam ran her hand over his forehead. He was burning up. If only Janet were here. The doctor would have been able to do more for O’Neill, even with the limited supplies they had.

They moved along a dirty, stony path that wound its way between natural rock formations, into a valley in the middle of the huge cavern. The ground was easy to walk on, and not too steep.

She scanned their surroundings. Without the confinement of the tunnel, the possibility for an unexpected attack by one of the spiders increased considerably. If they were anything like their smaller counterparts on Earth, they liked hiding in dark places and corners. The large cavern provided plenty of those. She had to drag O’Neill the last distance until they reached the small hut.

Panting, he dropped down to the ground and leaned against the rotten, moldy wall of the hut. She went to her knees in front of him and handed him the water. He was barely conscious. She swallowed hard.

The pounding in her head grew worse by the minute, but she ignored it.

“Sir.” She tapped his cheeks gently. He leaned his head back against the wall, looking at her through glossy eyes.

“Carter. It’s cold.” His eyes fell closed.

Sam gave him a weak smile. “I know, sir. Listen…” She touched his cheek again, prompting him to look at her. “I need you to focus. I’ll give you my gun to defend yourself. I’ll have to search the inside of the hut, and I want you to shoot if one of the spider creatures shows up, okay? You don’t have to hit anything. Just shoot. I’m only gonna be a couple of meters away.”

“Sam.”

Her throat constricted. “Yes, I’m here.” He hadn’t even listened to her, had he?

His arm almost slipped out of the sling and she carefully shifted it back to its position. His hand was turning odd shades of blue and purple. Given that he apparently didn’t feel any pain, his arm must have been going numb. Not good. She hadn’t completed extensive medical training, but if she remembered correctly, that was the worst form of broken bone, and needed immediate treatment.

His body shook slightly under her touch. He needed a doctor. Fast.

She looked around. There was no way that she was going to get him out fast enough. She had to do so many things before they’d even get close to finding an exit. And in his condition, he wouldn’t be able to move anymore.

 _Okay, focus._ She closed her eyes and inhaled the damp, mossy cavern air. She had to search the hut, repair one of the wagons, and then figure out which one of the tunnels lead to an exit. First things first. She wiped the sweat from her forehead.

“Sir.” Her voice echoed in the vast cave and his eyes shot open. “I need your help. I can’t do this by myself. We’re a team, remember? You have to stay focused. You don’t have to move, but you have to look out for attacking spiders. Can you do that for me?”

“Can’t… breathe…” His lungs made whistling sounds as he drew a breath. Sam helped him rearrange himself until his breathing came easier.

Why was he holding the side of his body like that?

She pulled his shirt out of his pants, revealing his bare chest and stomach. A large bruise marked the side of his body and parts of his upper abdomen all the way to his ribs. Her breath hitched.

“Sir, you didn’t just bruise your ribs. At least one of them’s broken and you have internal injuries.” Why the hell hadn’t he told her how bad it was? He had to feel almost unbearable pain.

No wonder it had almost knocked him out when she’d pushed him to the ground. It was the side he’d fallen onto and… She held her breath. Oh God, had she caused this? Had she worsened his condition by pushing him so hard? Her vision blurred and her breath quickened.

It was her fault. He was close to dying and she’d made his injuries worse.

His hand clenched around her wrist, and Sam’s head jerked up. He gave her a foggy look.

“Gimme your gun.”

Eyes stinging, she nodded and unclipped her handgun. No time to contemplate what-ifs.

“Stay here and don’t move.” She placed the handgun firmly in his palm and looked deeply into his eyes. “And focus, sir. Please don’t shoot me by accident.”

“You’re one to talk.” He gave her a weak smile.

She returned it and placed her hand against his cheek. “I’ll find a way out of here. I won’t be far, so if there’s anything you need, just call me, okay?”

She jumped up and crossed the distance to the door. Breaking open the rotting door wasn’t a problem. Only one firm kick and it splintered apart. Inside were a few tools and boxes, which contained something that had most likely been food once. Spoiled now. But the tools might be enough to repair one of the wagons.

A few rolled up papers on one of the old shelves in the corner caught her eye. She pulled them out and unfolded them. Most of them were construction plans for mining machinery, but a very dusty one did look like a plan of the mines.

She blew on it and then wiped her hand over it. The paper was starting to decompose.

Sam grabbed the box with the tools and the map, then left the hut. O’Neill still sat where she’d left him.

She raced to a handcar standing on the tracks about sixty feet away. The wheels were rusty, but it looked fully functional. She worked the steering stick on the back of it with a grunt until the rust finally loosened. The acceleration levers in the center were rusted, but worked. She exhaled with relief. Now, all she had to do was find out which one of the tunnels would lead them outside.

She placed the map on the thick wooden planks of the car and studied it. Somebody had scribbled symbols in various places.

How the hell was she supposed to decipher what they meant? She wasn’t a linguist, and none of them looked even remotely like a sun, or something that would equal an exit sign. She hit the wooden planks of the wagon with her fists. Why couldn’t Daniel be here? He was good with different languages, and he knew this planet’s writing system.

Sam looked way up at the cavern ceiling. Here and there small openings allowed daylight to seep through. Way too high for them to reach, but…

Technically, if any of these tunnels led outside, there should be a breeze at the entrance of the one leading to the exit.

Her gaze fell on the dry wood lying everywhere. If she started little campfires at the entrance of each tunnel, she should theoretically be able to see where the exit was. Provided that it hadn’t been buried when parts of the tunnels collapse. And what if there were poisonous gasses down here? The mine would blow up as soon as she struck a match.

Sam closed her eyes. There was no other way. She had to take a chance.

She raced to gather some wood, scanning her surroundings for approaching spiders. So far she hadn’t seen any more. Maybe there weren’t even that many down here…

She managed to light six fires. The tension went out of her when she lit the last one and nothing exploded. Most of the flames burned calm and steady, but in front of one tunnel, flames danced wildly. Hopefully that tunnel would lead them to an exit.

When she ran back to the rotten hut, her steps resounded hollow in the large cave.

“Sir.” She panted and dropped down on her knees in front of O’Neill. He lifted his head and looked at her drowsily.

“Carter…”

“I need you to get up.”

“Can’t breathe.” He coughed.

Moving him again probably wasn’t a good idea. There was no other choice, though. She only had to get him on the handcar.

“I know, sir. It isn’t far. Then you can rest.” She placed her hand at his cheek and locked her gaze with his. “Please, Jack.”

His gaze lit up at the use of his first name. He shifted, trying to sit up, but erupted in a violent cough. Little red drops hit the ground. Sam closed her eyes. Broken rib. He’d probably punctured his lung.

“Come on.” Gently she pulled him up, ignoring the burning in her muscles. “You just have to make it to that handcar over there. Then you can lie down and rest. You think you can do that?”

“Yeah. Piece of cake.” He leaned heavily on her.

She nearly had to carry him the last few meters. Once they reached the wagon, he fell down on it.

Sam adjusted his position so he was lying across the broad wooden surface, then pulled off her jacket to place it under his head and help him breathe. She climbed onto the wagon and began working the levers up and down.

With a rusty squeak, the car set into motion.

She scanned the tracks for pieces of debris, and jumped down to move it out of the way whenever she saw it. At last, the wagon moved into the darkness of the tunnel. 

“Alright, sir.” Sam leaned down and reached for her flashlight. O’Neill gave a low groan. “I’ve got it now. We’ll be out of here in no time, and you’ll get to complain to Janet about having to stay in bed.”

That was if they didn’t run into a dead-end…

She turned on her flashlight, illuminating the tunnel ahead of her. Then she set the wagon into motion again. Gaining sufficient speed to make it up the tracks was surprisingly easy. Even though the incline wasn’t very steep, she’d still worried her muscle power wouldn’t be sufficient to move them uphill.

The tracks were clear, albeit rusty. Thank God, she didn’t have to stop every few meters to clear debris out of their way. Her muscles screamed for rest, and she gritted her teeth, trying to ignore the numbness in her arms.

The way through the tunnel was long. Although it mostly went uphill, occasionally the tracks would shift downhill again, making her worry they might be moving in the wrong direction after all.

Finally, the tunnel transformed from a broad, uneven path with rocks sticking out from the walls into a regular, visibly man-made tunnel. Wood constructions steadied the walls and the ceiling.

This part must have been built earlier than the rest. They were on the right path. If only the tunnel wasn’t blocked by debris.

A strange thud sounded behind them. Damn, she should have fastened the backpack. They’d probably lost it somewhere on the tracks. She turned her head.

Ice poured into her veins, her heart pounding in her ears. The backpack was still on the car. One of the large spiders skittered across the tracks after them.

 _Great. Just great._ She fought back panic and turned to look at the tracks ahead of them. Where had that thing come from?

A hunch made her lift the flashlight towards the ceiling. Her breath caught. The entire ceiling was covered in cobwebs. Here and there, the large black bodies of huge black spiders sat, waiting for prey.

“Oh, that’s not good.”

She turned to look at the spider tracking them. It was getting closer. Time to pick up speed. Screw the danger of going off the tracks.

Another thudding sound.

She didn’t even have to turn around to know they had a second spider on their trail. Its loud screech iced her marrow. The sound echoed a thousand fold and she froze.

Several thuds behind the wagon made her turn. Over a dozen spiders crawled over the floor, along the wall, upside down along the ceiling. Their long, hairy legs moved so fast, all Sam could see was their large round bodies. And heads with so many eyes, and those disturbingly sharp black teeth. Her heart jumped.

The wagon caught on a small rock blocking the way in the middle of the tracks. It lurched, and she kneeled down to hold onto the wooden surface. A wall raced toward them. She squeezed her eyes shut.

_Please don’t go off the tracks. Please don’t crash._

The heavy vehicle steadied again, and when she opened her eyes the tracks ahead of her were steady and straight. She released a shaky breath. Then she squinted. Way ahead in the distance… Was that…?

Light! Daylight coming through little openings in between… _Oh crap._

The entrance to the mine had apparently been sealed shut, and there was no way she’d have enough time to open it with the spiders on her trail. Time to take care of the little monsters.

She reached for the backpack and pulled out one of the grenades she’d packed. It didn’t have a lot of force, but maybe it’d be enough to kill a few of the spiders and scare the rest away.

Throwing it at the sealed off entrance wouldn’t be a good idea. If the tunnel ahead of them wasn’t stable, she might block their only way out. If the tunnel behind them collapsed, all the better. That would at least take care of the spiders.

She pulled the safety pin out, pointed the flashlight at the tracks behind her, and threw the grenade. Then she tossed herself down over her unconscious commanding officer, her hands pressing against his ears to shield him from the blast.

In the confined space of the tunnel, the explosion sounded hollow and immense. For a moment she felt like her head was exploding, too. Dizziness and disorientation consumed her. Her ears buzzed.

She looked up and pointed the light at the tunnel ahead of them.Their wagon was still moving towards the exit. The tunnel hadn’t collapsed. Thank God.

She used her flashlight to scan the tunnel behind them. A considerable part of the ceiling had come down and some of the spiders lay lifeless on the tracks. But a small opening remained. One spider crawled through. Then a second one.

“Oh, for crying out loud.” She pulled a second grenade out of her backpack. If only she hadn’t discarded the explosives when she’d packed that morning. Who’d ever have guessed she’d get stuck in a cave with freaking monster spiders?

She pulled out the safety pin and threw the grenade, while at the same time using the lever to speed up the wagon. She didn’t allow for more than two seconds to pass before she threw herself over O’Neill again, once again shielding his body with hers.

The world blurred, the wagon shook under her. She whipped around. Another part of the tunnel had partly collapsed. At least for now, she couldn’t see any more spiders behind them.

Ahead, daylight was only about fifteen meters away. She jumped off the wagon, and lit the blocked entrance with her flashlight. It’d been closed with wooden planks. Those should be easy to rip out. At least if they were as rotten as the hut had been.

And then she froze. Two large spiders sat in the corners above the exit. No way she’d be able to remove the planks without them attacking. It looked like the blasts of the explosions had made them go into high alert. Their black eyes stared, their bodies unmoving.

No time for planning or strategy. She grabbed her P-90 and fired at the first creature. It twitched and lurched an inch closer. Then it shuddered and fell to the floor.

The second spider scuttled along the ceiling and wall towards her. She yelped when it fell onto the tracks right in front of her. She leaped backwards and squeezed off rapid fire shots.

The spider jumped toward her. Air left her lungs when its heavy body slammed into her, throwing her to the ground.

Sam froze and screamed. Its hairy legs brushed her naked arms, wriggling around her. She thrust her fist up into its massive body and lifted her weapon. Then she fired upwards, hoping to hit it where it would cause the most damage.

The creature twitched against her and released one last screech right next to her ear. Her skin crawled. Then it stilled and collapsed on top of her. She trembled, blood thudding in her ears.

“God.” Nausea clenched her stomach as she shoved the creature off her.

Never did she want to see a spider again. She staggered to her feet and stalked around the dead body, not taking her eyes off it as she hurried up to the exit.

The wooden planks barricading the entrance were moldy and degraded. One hard kick and they broke apart. One by one, Sam ripped them away from the wooden frame they’d been nailed to.

Daylight streamed into the tunnel.

She grabbed one of the planks and then ran back to the wagon. Shuddering in disgust, she pushed the huge spider bodies off the tracks, then threw the plank away and pulled herself back up onto the handcar.

An outcry of relief escaped her when at last they moved out into broad daylight. Her legs gave out, and she sunk to her knees. The car ran along the tracks outside, its momentum carrying it the last distance until it stopped. 

“Sir.” Sam crawled over to O’Neill and touched his shoulder. Nothing. 

“Sir.” Louder. She leaned over him. His breathing was steady and his pulse strong, but he was running a high fever. She tapped his cheeks. He didn’t respond. “Come on. Please…”

Her throat tightened and she sat up, looking around. How was she supposed to get him back to the village, let alone the Stargate? She couldn’t carry him, and the tracks outside weren’t usable anymore.

“Please wake up… Jack.” Her breath hitched. Her lips brushed the hot, damp skin of his cheek. She pulled him close against her, body trembling.

 _The radio._ Of course. They hadn’t been able to use their radios down in the mine, the rocks blocking any signals. But now they were out…

She sat up and searched through the backpack. Her hands shook when she pulled the small black receiver out, and pushed the button. “Daniel, come in. Can you hear me?”

Static crackled. Then a voice. “Sam?”

She let out a breath.

“I can hear you. Sam, where are you? We’ve been searching for you since noon.”

“We fell into an old mine. Daniel, I need help. The colonel is badly hurt, and I can’t get him back to the gate.”

“Okay, where are you? Is Jack conscious?”

She swallowed hard. “No, he isn’t. I have no clue where I am. According to the position of the sun it should be…” She looked up, and then faltered. This was nonsense. This wasn’t Earth. She had no idea what direction this planet’s sun stood at what time. She didn’t even remember which direction the town might be in. “I don’t know the direction. But there’s an entrance to the mine right here. Apparently it was sealed off. There’s old tracks right outside.”

Silence. She waited a few seconds, then pushed the button again. “Daniel? Do you copy?”

Another few seconds of silence. Then, “Yes. I just talked to one of the people from the tribe. They know where the mine is. Stay put, Sam. We’ll come get you.”

“Copy that.” She dropped into the sand and took a deep breath. Thank God the nightmare was over. Or was it?

She stared at the entrance to the cave. What if those monsters found a way outside now that she’d unsealed the entrance? She jumped to her feet and leaned against the wagon to search through her backpack.

The last grenade. She’d put it to good use. She pulled the safety pin out and hurled the grenade into the blackness of the mine. Then she turned and raced back to the wagon.

The explosion shook the ground under her, followed by a loud crashing of rocks and stone. She lost her balance and hit the grass. When she turned her head, the entrance to the mine had collapsed.

Anybody who’d fall into the mine in the future would be screwed. She winced. Hopefully the people from the village could put up warning signs in areas with unsteady ground.

She stumbled back to the wagon and climbed onto the wooden surface. Then she placed her head next to Jack’s, nuzzling his cheek as she pulled him closer against her.

“Hold on. Please.” She closed her eyes. If only Daniel and the villagers would hurry. _Please don’t let them be too late._


	23. Keep Breathing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> This version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

“What happened?” Janet leaned over the makeshift stretcher, scanning O’Neill, as two soldiers carried him inside the medical tent. Sam followed suit.

When nobody answered the doctor’s question, Janet lifted her head and looked at Sam pointedly.

“Sam, what happened?”

She lifted her eyes, her vision blurry, hands shaking. “We fell into an old mine. Colonel O’Neill got hurt from the fall. He has a broken arm, his ankle’s sprained, and he has at least one broken rib. I’m pretty sure he’s bleeding internally, and he was struggling to breathe.”

Janet turned to bend over O’Neill again after the soldiers had lifted him onto her makeshift operating table.

“How long has he been unconscious?”

“I don’t know.” She ran her hand through her hair, pacing up and down. She had to get a grip on herself. “About two or three hours. We had to wait for our Stargate window. He came to a few times but the Krushar’s medicine wasn’t advanced enough to help him.”

Janet put him on an infusion and fastened the fluid bag to a metal pole near the operating table. Then she cut O’Neill’s shirt open.

“Oh God.” Arms wrapping around herself, Sam stared at the bruises on his chest and stomach. It hadn’t been that bad in the mine. “That isn’t good, is it?”

Janet didn’t reply but reached behind her to gather some materials. Then she rushed over to a shelf and took sown little bottles of fluids, and surgical instruments.

“His pulse is weak.” Sam touched O’Neill’s burning skin, and then brushed her fingers through his hair. “His breathing’s erratic.” She looked up. “What are you doing, Janet? He needs help.”

Janet spun and put a metal bowl on a chair she’d pulled close to the operating table. She rushed to press pads to O’Neill’s chest, connecting him to a monitor next to the table. When she turned on the monitor, a weak, erratic beep filled the tent. 

Sam’s breath hitched.

Grabbing a syringe and a little bottle, Janet gave her a firm look. “Sam, I need you to go.”

No. She wasn’t gonna leave him. She pressed her lips together and frowned at Janet.

“Now.” Janet scowled at her.

A long, ear-piercing beep sounded from the machine. A chill spread through Sam, and her mind went blank as she stared at the flat line on the monitor.

“Daniel, take her outside. Please.” Janet whirled around and filled the syringe with transparent liquid from the bottle.

“Let’s wait outside. Janet’s doing her best.” Daniel pulled Sam away from O’Neill as the flat-lining beep continued. 

As soon as they were outside, Sam pulled herself out of Daniel’s grip. Air, she needed air… Panting she paced up and down. What if he never woke up again? What if he died in there? Ice poured into her veins. If only she’d gotten him out faster. “It’s my fault.”

“Sam.” Daniel touched her shoulder but she twisted away from his touch.

“I should’ve gotten him out sooner. Maybe there was another way and I didn’t see it. If I were a better soldier, or better in field medicine… I misjudged the severity of his injuries.” She froze. “Oh God… His ribs weren’t that bad until I pushed him to the ground.” Her eyes stung and her throat constricted. She’d done this. She was responsible for his death. “It was my fault.”

“Hey.” Daniel pulled her against him. “It’s okay. It’s _not_ your fault. The mission went wrong. It was an accident. It’s a calculated risk we take every day we step through the gate. I’m sure you did your best.”

“How can you say that?” She freed herself from him. “You weren’t even there.”

Daniel studied her. “Jack’s in Janet’s care now. There’s nothing we can do. She’s a good doctor. She’ll take care of him.”

Sam dropped her arms and swallowed hard. It all seemed so final. There had to be something else she could do. He couldn’t… She wiped the back of her hand over her eyes.

Daniel pulled her into his arms. “It’s okay.”

Her arms trembled as she hugged him. “I’m sorry. I know we risk losing people every time we go through the gate. I shouldn’t be this affected. I’m not a rookie anymore. It shouldn’t get to me this much.” 

“Sam.” Daniel’s nose brushed her hair. “We’re family here. I don’t think you’ll ever reach the point where a team member being injured won’t get to you anymore. Especially if it’s somebody you’re close to.”

At that moment, Vala skidded around the corner of the tent. “What happened? I heard there was a casualty.”

Casualty? Were they calling it that already? She closed her eyes and bit her lower lip. She fisted her hands in Daniel’s shirt and inhaled sharply, before she sat down on one of the makeshift benches nearby.

“Jack was hurt.” Daniel looked at his girlfriend. “Badly. It doesn’t look good.”

“Oh God.” Vala rushed to Sam and pulled her against her. “Sammie, I’m sorry.”

Sam looked at a few soldiers passing by. They slowed, studying them with uncomfortable curiosity. Although they did occasionally lose people, it wasn’t a regular occurrence. The possibility that it may be happening now must be drawing them in hopes of overhearing some news.

Vala looked at her. “What happened?”

“There was an accident. We fell into an old mine.” Sam took a shaky breath. “We got out, but it took a while before Daniel and some of the villagers found us. We couldn’t gate back home right away. We had to wait for our Stargate window. God, what if he dies?”

“Janet’s taking care of him. He’ll be fine.” Vala’s hand ran up and down her arm. “You’re shaking… Daniel, can you bring her a blanket, please?”

The archeologist got up and went to a nearby storage tent. He returned with a blanket and handed it to Vala before he sat down next to her. Vala wrapped the blanket around Sam, and rubbed her arms again.

“What if he…” Sam closed her eyes. What if she lost O’Neill—Jack—for good? She’d lost Jason already, but compared to that experience the idea she might lose Jack… Her throat constricted again. She couldn’t handle it. Not him. 

“Breathe.” Vala’s voice made her look up. Her friend’s eyes glistened. “Sometimes all you can do is keep breathing. No matter how hard it seems, no matter what happens, just breathe. Concentrate on that.”

The tent flap opened behind them. Janet stepped out, her gaze empty as she stared at them. 

Sam’s eyes widened. It had only been a few minutes since they’d left the tent. No way had she finished treating Jack’s injuries in such a short amount of time. Her presence outside could only mean one thing. It hit her like a fist to the gut.

“No...” All the air was pushed from her lungs. She shook her head, as if in some magical way, she could undo what had happened. “Janet, no. No, no, no. Don’t tell me...” She jumped up. Who cared that she was supposed to be strong. She rushed over to the doctor.

“It’s fine, Sam.” Janet grabbed her arms, until Sam looked at her. “He’s fine. Do you hear me? He’s fine, and he’s healthy.”

Sam stared at Janet. Healthy? Jack was… how? When she’d left just a few minutes ago, he’d been on the verge of dying. So how could she say he was… Unless… Was Janet lying to her?

“How’s that possible? How did you…?”

“It wasn’t me. And don’t ask me how. I don’t understand it myself.” Janet brushed some strands of hair out of her eyes. “I couldn’t bring him back. I was just about to give up, and then Sheppard just… he just… put his hands on him. O’Neill’s bruising disappeared and his heart started beating again.”

Janet sank down on one of the wooden boxes standing near the entrance. “He only has some minor injuries left, nothing life threatening. All his vitals are strong and regular.”

“Sheppard did… what? How’s that possible?” It sounded like Sheppard had somehow magically healed Jack. Sam stilled when another possibility occurred to her. What if she’d lost consciousness? What if this was a dream? Some kind of trick her mind played on her because the reality of the situation was unbearable?

Without another word, she pushed into the medical tent. Sheppard sat on his field bed, staring at his hands with confusion and looking exhausted.

Jack lay on the operating table, the beep from the machine strong and steady. Sam swallowed and stepped closer, then released a breath. The bruise on his stomach was gone. Only slight hints of purple mottled his skin here and there, along with a few minor scratches.

Janet stepped up behind Sam. “I’d already given him a narcotic to prepare him for surgery, so it’ll be a bit until he comes to. He had severe internal injuries, but as far as I can tell he’s fully recovered now.”

Sam exhaled. He was fine. He’d survive and fully recover. Her knees went weak.

“Whoa.” Janet caught her when she lost balance, and pulled her over to sit on a box. “Easy there.” She inspected the wound on Sam’s head. The Krushar doctor had treated it to the best of his abilities, but with their primitive medical equipment, he hadn’t been able to do much. Janet pulled a medical flashlight out of the pocket of her coat, and shone it into Sam’s eyes.

“Follow the light with your eyes, please.” After a number of tests, she raised her eyebrows at her. “You have a concussion and your head wound needs stitches. Do you have any other injuries?”

Sam shook her head. “I don’t think so. I’m just so exhausted.”

“Alright.” Janet guided her to one of the beds. “Lie down.”

“That’s not necessary. I…”

“Now, Sam.” There it was. That tone in her voice that made Sheppard and O’Neill call her a dragon behind her back. “That wasn’t a request.”

Sighing, Sam lay down on the bed and closed her eyes. Okay, so maybe resting for a bit wasn’t such a bad idea. Just a few minutes. Half an hour maybe. Then she’d ask Sheppard about what had happened.

How had he been able to heal Jack? Her eyes snapped open. Maybe it had something to do with the device that grabbed him yesterday. Her eyes drifted closed again. She should get up and inform McKay about her theory. Her limbs wouldn’t move, though.

She startled when warm hands touched her forehead.

“Shhh, I’m just treating your head wound.” Janet smiled at her. “You need a few stitches. I’m going to give you a sedative to help you sleep, all right? Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. Just close your eyes.”

Sam watched Janet prepare the sedative and pinch the syringe with her fingers. A sharp prick stung her arm. She wanted to say something, but the next moment she’d forgotten what it was. Her headache stopped, and her muscles relaxed with the sudden absence of pain. The tent spun, and darkness crept in.

 

***

 

_Beep… beep… beep… beep… beep…_

Sam opened her eyes as the steady, rhythmic sound of the heart monitor reached her ears. Warmth flooded her body, energy buzzing across her skin. A warm hand touched her fnorehead. She became aware of a second one lying on her stomach right under her breasts. When she turned her head, she froze. “Colonel Sheppard?”

Her gaze locked with Sheppard’s. She swallowed and looked at his hand touching her in such an intimate way. He let go of her and leaned back.

She lifted herself up onto her forearms and studied him. Her headache had disappeared. So had the bruises on her arms. 

“What did you do?” She stared at him. 

Sheppard shrugged. “Te sanavit.”

She looked at him, then leaned forward. “What?” Maybe her head injury had been worse then she expected.

“Omnes sana.” Sheppard pointed at her arms and head. Then he scoffed when he apparently realized she didn’t understand him. “You were _saucium_.”

“Sir.” Sam moved her legs off the bed. “What’s wrong with you?”

He made a frustrated sound, and then shrugged his shoulders.

She looked around the medical tent. Jack still lay unconscious on the operating table. The steady rhythm of his heart monitor had drawn her out of sleep. 

If he was still out, she couldn’t have been asleep for long. So why did she feel like she’d just woken up from a solid night’s sleep?

She turned her head when the tent flap rustled. Daniel entered and froze when he saw her.

“Sam?”

“Daniel.”

“Janet said you’d be out for at least five to six hours.” He put his hands in his pockets.

Sam stood up. “How long was I out?”

“Well, it couldn’t have been more than half an hour.”

Half an hour? She turned to look at Sheppard who had sat down on the field bed next to hers. Head bowed, eyes closed, he looked exhausted. Sheppard had done something to her when he’d touched her. Janet had said he’d healed Jack, so had he done the same to her? It was the only reasonable explanation.

“I think Colonel Sheppard just healed me. And he apparently neutralized Janet’s sedative in the process. I feel absolutely fine.”

Daniel stepped closer. “Well, you look fine.” Then he looked at Sheppard. “How’s that possible?”

“Um, Daniel, there’s something weird about him. I can’t understand him.”

“What does that mean?”

Sam cleared he throat. “He said something… What was it? Colonel, what did you just say to me?”

Sheppard lifted his head. “Te sanavit.”

Daniel folded his arms and turned towards him, curiosity flashing in his eyes. Sheppard lifted his arms in defeat and then let them drop to his lap with an annoyed huff.

“Daniel, I don’t think he’s doing it on purpose.”

“No, no, he isn’t.” Daniel folded his arms. “I think he’s speaking ancient Latin or at least a language or dialect very close to it.”

“What’s ancient Latin?”

Daniel readjusted his glasses. “It’s an old language from over two-thousand years ago. Before the Aschen came to Earth, humans spoke thousands of different languages. None of them survived, because shortly after their arrival, the Aschen chose one language and banned all others to make colonization easier. Ancient Latin was dead long before the Aschen arrived, but it influenced some of the most widely spoken languages in ancient times. It also influenced Old English, which later became the modern version of the language we speak today. The question is, Colonel, how can you speak Latin all of a sudden?”

Sam shook her head. “I don’t think he even realizes he’s speaking it. Do you think his language has somehow de-evolved back into its original form?”

“No.” Daniel scratched his head. “English belonged to the Germanic language family. Latin is the root for the Roman language family. Early forms of Old and Middle English were only _influenced_ by Latin. If Sheppard’s language had de-evolved, it would probably be closer to Germanic—maybe even Celtic. Aside from that, a language doesn’t evolve in every individual’s brain. Unless there’d be some form of universal subconscious all humans have intuitive access to. That’s only a highly speculative and much debated theory among philosophers, though. I see no way it could be accurate.”

“This has to have something to do with the device we found on P63-284.” Sam looked at him.

Daniel raised his eyebrows at her.

“It makes sense. Think about it. It can’t be a coincidence that he starts displaying these symptoms only a day after accidentally activating an extraterrestrial machine.”

“Why would it teach him to speak an ancient Earth language?” Daniel sat down on the bed she’d used earlier.

She shrugged. “How would the aliens who invented it know how to speak Latin in the first place? They couldn’t have come from Earth, given they’re a lot more advanced than we are even now. Never mind back then.”

“Unless… It was the other way around.”

When she gave him a baffled look, Daniel got up again. “What if it wasn’t humans who went off-world, but aliens who came here, to Earth? The temple complex on P63-284 is a lot older than four thousand years, at least according to my preliminary research and Rodney’s analysis. Carbon dating pointed to well over twenty-thousand years.”

Sam scrunched her brows.

“Think about it, Sam. What if some thousand years ago, aliens came from another planet to settle on Earth. Maybe they mingled with our population. Maybe they even sparked the rise of our first high cultures.”

“Isn’t this all just speculation?” Sam turned her eyes back on Sheppard, who looked impatient.

“Yes, but it would definitely explain how a very old device on another planet could cause Sheppard to speak a long dead dialect of ancient Latin.”

Sheppard groaned. “Can you two stop argumentari and find a solution? I feel like I’m going derentis.”

Sam studied him, then looked at Daniel whose gaze fixated on the colonel.

“That’s interesting. So you do, at least partly, still speak English. And you can understand us.”

“Yes. Although apparently I have nullum control over quod ego dicent.”

Sam raised her brows at Daniel. The archeologist cleared his throat. “Over what he says. He said he has no control over what he says.”

“Ah.” Sam folded her arms and looked at Sheppard with a sigh. “What do we do now?”

“Well, if you’re right and this is something the alien device caused, we should probably go back there and find a way to reverse it.”

“No, that wouldn’t get us anywhere. The power was depleted. Besides, even while it was still working, I couldn’t make heads or tails of it. That technology’s so far beyond anything I’ve ever seen, I wouldn’t even know where to start. For all we know we could make it worse.”

“What on Earth is going on here?”

They all turned around to face the entrance of the tent. Janet looked at them, eyes wide.

“Um…” Daniel shrugged. “Apparently Sheppard healed Sam and neutralized your sedative. And he seems to be slowly losing his ability to speak our language.”

Janet stepped closer, looking at Daniel as though he was slowly losing his mind.

Daniel sighed. “He’s speaking something akin to ancient Latin, mixed with occasional modern words.”

Janet drew her eyes away from him to the colonel on the bed. Sheppard shrugged apologetically.

“Sam thinks it might be a side-effect of the alien device.” Daniel stepped aside to let Janet through.

“Not just a side effect. Maybe that was its purpose.” Sam folded her arms.

“To teach him an ancient language? What would that accomplish?”

“I don’t know, but his condition seems to be getting worse. And let’s not forget this isn’t the only effect the device has had on him. He healed Colonel O’Neill. He healed me too within a matter of seconds. The question is whether this change is dangerous.”

Janet nodded. “I’ll have to take a close look at him. A brain scan might shed light on why he’s developing these new abilities. But first, Sam, I want to examine you and I want a sample of your blood.”

“Alright.” Daniel clapped his hands together and rubbed his palms. “I’ll go back up to my tent and find some books on ancient Latin, so we can understand Sheppard.”

 

***

 

Sam rolled the sleeve of her shirt back down, and raised her eyebrows at Janet.

“Alright.” The doctor nodded, while she sealed the vial containing Sam’s blood. “I still don’t know how it’s possible, but there’s nothing wrong with you. I won’t know for sure until I’ve taken a look at your blood, but for now, I’d say you’re the poster child for a healthy human.”

Sam got up and rolled down her sleeve. Finally she’d get to take a shower and wash the dust and dirt off her skin. When she lifted her head, her gaze fell on O’Neill who was still lying on the operating table. Her heart quickened as she approached him. 

The skin of his arm was warm, but his temperature had returned to normal. His chest rose and fell in a regular, strong rhythm. She swallowed. Just over an hour ago he’d been at death’s door. He’d died.

For a short eternity, it had been as thoughshe’d collapse under the weight of her own emotions. Back when she’d lost Jason, it had devastated her, but not on an essential level. She hadn’t felt like life had ended, or nothing mattered anymore. What the hell was wrong with her? She shouldn’t care this deeply about O’Neill. She shouldn’t allow her feelings to run so deep that her well-being depended on his.

Janet touched her shoulder. “He should wake up soon. I wanna keep him here for another day because of the potential side effects of the narcotics. He won’t be happy about it, but he’s going to be just fine.”

Sam smiled at the doctor. “That’s good.” Her fingers closed around his arm in a gentle squeeze. “Janet, about what happened earlier… When I yelled at you.” She closed her eyes and flinched. “I didn’t mean to snap. I’m sorry.”

Janet shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. We all reach our limits when we’re about to lose the person we love.”

Sam stared at her. “We… what? Wait, no. I don’t love him. We’re just friends.”

Janet cocked her head and shot her a semi-annoyed look. “Right. You just keep telling yourself that.” Smirking, the doctor walked around the operating table to the back of the tent. A few makeshift separators divided the room to give her private space for a little office. It wasn’t overly big, but held enough space for a desk and a shelf. Bright daylight from outside shone through a square opening covered by transparent plastic.

Sam followed her and folded her arms as the doctor sat down and took a sip of coffee from a cup on her desk. “Janet, I’m serious. I care about him as a good friend.”

“If you say so.”

She swallowed hard. Oh God, what if Janet told Jack? Then the whole discussion about their marriage would come up all over again. “Please don’t tell him I—”

“I’m not getting involved with you two.” Janet leaned back in her chair. “Whatever lies you tell yourself in order to convince yourself that you don’t love him, that’s none of my business. One word of advice though. He’s an attractive man. I’m sure he won’t stay single forever. So, if you really think of him as just a friend, fine. But if you love him, maybe you should start sending the right signals soon.”

“Why?” Sam stared at her, her stomach tightening. “Did he say… Is there another woman he’s interested in?”

Janet chuckled. “No, not that I know of. But your reaction right there tells me you still care about him a lot more than a friend would.”

Sam tilted her head with a little scoff. 

Janet sighed. “All I am saying is, don’t let foolish pride stand in your way. I’m not saying you should forget about whatever grudge you’re holding. But don’t make him feel like he doesn’t have a chance with you. Otherwise there’s a good chance you’ll lose him.”

Sam pressed her lips together and then finally released a breath. “I like him.But I can’t let him believe I want a relationship. Not now. We’re just getting back to being friends. I don’t want to bring the marriage contract back onto the table. He agreed to ignore it because I said I didn’t want to be with him.”

“But if you do want to be with him, what’s the problem? Let the contract be valid. I can think of a lot worse scenarios than being married to Jack O’Neill.” Janet shuffled a few papers around on her desk and ordered them into files. Then she turned in her chair. “I have a feeling he’d try to make your life heaven on Earth. Do you know what the odds are for that in an arranged marriage? It would have been a lot more likely for you to end up with somebody like…um…McKay.”

Both winced at the thought. Then Sam shook her head. “With him it’s either one or the other. Be married or be friends. There’s no in between. At the moment I’m more comfortable being friends with him. To be honest, the idea of marriage terrifies me.”

“Why?” Janet raised her eyebrows.

“ _Why_? Because I didn’t choose it. And because of everything that comes with it. We’re both gifted. That means there’ll be expectations, especially for women. Like doing the housework, having children. You know how we’re brought up. None of us ever expects to have children. And I was never one of those women who wanted them. I don’t know how to deal with those expectations.”

She sank against the table and dropped her arms. “I feel like I just gained my freedom. I’m finally going through the Stargate and exploring other planets. I dreamed of this my entire life. I’m not ready to give that up.”

Janet leaned forward and locked her gaze with Sam’s. “Who says you’d have to? Maybe you should talk to him about that.”

“Oh please.” Sam chuckled. “I won’t bring up that subject again. Not now that we’ve worked so hard on putting the contract behind us. We’d start fighting all over again.”

Janet studied her for a long time, then finally nodded in surrender. “Alright, it’s your choice. If you’re happier like this...”

Sam looked down at her hands and played with her fingers. Was she? Wasn’t it worth taking a chance? She clenched her jaw and got up. There were more important things to worry about at the moment.

“I should get to work.” She turned to walk towards the exit. “And you should start your examination of—” She broke off as she scanned the medical tent.

Janet frowned. “What’s the matter?”

“Where’s Colonel Sheppard?”

Janet scrambled to her side. Except for O’Neill, who was still lying on the operating table, the medical tent was empty.

The two women rushed past the beds and left the tent, looking around the camp to the far end of the field where the forest began. Sheppard was nowhere in sight.

“Oh, great. That’s all we need.” Janet dropped her arms with a sigh.

Sam squeezed her shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’ll find him. I’ll get Daniel and a few soldiers to form search parties.”

She hurried off to a group of soldiers chatting in front of the food tent. O’Neill was knocked out, Sheppard was going crazy, and Mitchell was away to meet with a contact from another camp. They didn’t have a superior officer at camp who’d be capable of giving them orders.

She swallowed hard. How much worse was this day going to get?

 

***

 

“Oh please.” McKay folded his arms and rolled his eyes. “There’s nothing in that direction. Why would he go that way?”

“Rodney.” Sam fought to free her arm from a thorn bush she’d walked through. “He has to be somewhere.”

“Yes, but what could possibly be the purpose of coming here?”

“I don’t know, but he didn’t go anywhere else we looked, so we may as well look here.”

Rodney groaned. When she realized he wasn’t following her anymore, Sam turned around. “What, you just want to give up?”

“Well, no.” The scientist looked around. “But has anybody considered the possibility that he dialed the Stargate during the last window and went to another planet? Or that he went to town?”

“We have a search team checking in town. And why would he dial up another planet?” She struggled to fight her way through another bush. Damn this part of the forest. It was overgrown with thorns and thicket. If Sheppard had gone in this direction, he hadn’t taken this way.

“I don’t know. Maybe because he was going insane? Maybe he wanted to go back to P63-284 to the alien device.” McKay followed the path she was clearing out.

Sam growled. So typical. Let her do all the work. “Why would he do that?” She spun and stared at him. “He knows we haven’t figured out the device.”

She turned her head and froze. A black spider sat on her shoulder. Her breathing quickened. Flashbacks of the huge spiders in the mine flooded her mind. Heart pounding, she took a deep breath and brushed the harmless critter off her shoulder. Just touching it made her skin crawl. 

Blood rushed in her ears. This entire forest was probably filled with spiders. They could be everywhere. In the trees, the bushes, on the ground. In her hair… She brushed her fingers through her hair, trying to get herself back under control. A panic attack wouldn’t help the situation.

“…or maybe he just thinks he can fix it by himself. I mean, how should I know what’s going on in his crazy mind?” McKay was so wrapped up in one of his speeches he hadn’t noticed her almost panic attack. Thank God.

The last thing she needed was people making fun of her for her sudden fear of spiders.

“So I say we go back to camp.” McKay folded his arms.

Anger rose up in her. Why the hell was he constantly complaining?

“I don’t know how Sheppard deals with you on a daily basis in the field.” Jaw clenched she continued through the bushes. “You’re unbelievable. You’re whiny and you’re always complaining about something. Just suck it up, Rodney.”

Okay, maybe she was being a bit too harsh. She glanced back. McKay stared at her, looking almost hurt. Sam closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean… I’m really tired, and all I really want is to take a shower. So, believe me I’d want nothing more than to find Sheppard so we can get this day over with. Can we please just continue our search?”

“Now who’s whiny?” McKay’s petulant undertone immediately grated on her nerves.

“Fine, you know what? Why don’t you just go back to camp?” She slapped one of the branches out of her way. “I’ll continue searching here, and you can go do whatever you want.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t want to search for Sheppard. Just that your strategy might be flawed. And I can’t leave you alone here.”

Sam raised her eyebrows. “Oh please, you don’t have to pretend to be a gentleman, Rodney. These are our forests, not some strange alien planet. I’m a big girl. I’ll find my way home.”

“Still, who knows what’s out here. I mean, we’ve never been this far beyond the gate.” Rodney looked around.

Sam swallowed when she saw the worried look on his face, then turned to scan the area. Darkness surrounded them. Large pine trees rose in every direction, the ground covered in thicket. Little light filtered down to ground level through the dense treetops. That made it impossible to see more than fifteen meters ahead.

She spun when a tree branch cracked nearby, her heart pounding in her ears. A bird took flight, making her jump. A _bird_. She closed her eyes. This was getting ridiculous. She wouldn’t let Rodney make her paranoid.

She glared at him. “Will you stop that? There’s nothing out here. Except for Sheppard, whom we still have to find.”

A loud bang shattered the silence around them. The ground trembled, then crows burst into flight and angry cawing rang out. Somewhere in the distance, trees crashed to the ground.

“What the hell was that?” Rodney moved up behind Sam.

“I have no idea. It sounded like an explosion.”

“Let’s hope it was…” When she turned to raise her eyebrows at him, he shrugged. “Well, the alternative is, it’s a large animal, or whatever else might live out here, and—”

“Oh, give me a break.” She shook her head and started walking.

“Where are you going?” Rodney rushed after her.

“Well, it sounded like it came from way back there.”

“And you’re walking towards it? Even the birds flew away from it. Shouldn’t we go back to camp to gather more people?”

Sam kept walking. “I’m sure it was loud enough. They heard it. And as soon as we’ve found it, we’ll radio them.”

“Well, shouldn’t we radio now and wait for—”

“Rodney.” Sam rounded on him. “If you want to wait, fine. Just stay here. Otherwise, shut up.”

McKay muttered something she couldn’t understand. Then he caught up with her. “You’re really cranky. Maybe you should eat something.”

She gritted her teeth. Then she looked down when he held a chocolate bar out to her. “Here.”

Her stomach growled. She hadn’t eaten anything since that morning, shortly before they’d fallen down into the mine. With everything that had happened, she’d completely forgotten about it.

“Thank you.” She gave Rodney a small smile while she unwrapped the chocolate bar. Her eyes widened when he pulled another one out of his jacket pocket. “How many of those do you have?”

He grinned. “I always carry three or four with me. Sheppard’s really strict with the emergency rations on missions, so I revert to these. You can buy them at the grocery store in town.”

Sam chuckled and shook her head as she took a bite of the chocolate bar. The sugar replenished some of her energy. “They’re really good.”

“I know.”

They kept walking for a few minutes more, until they saw a foggy beam of light in the distance. “I think that’s it.”

They raced through the forest. The explosion had created a small clearing that stretched between the pine trees. Dust and dirt swirled around, and made both her and McKay cough. They climbed over a few fallen trees.

A large hole gaped in the center of the clearing. Sam stepped close to the edge and peeked down, carefully testing the stability of the ground with each step. She wasn’t in the mood to fall into another abandoned mine.

“Rodney, can you give me your flashlight?”

McKay handed it over and Sam lit the darkness. It wasn’t deep, only eight or nine feet. The tunnel beyond was made from light-colored stone. Man-made, as far as she could tell.

“What is that?” Rodney peeked down next to her.

“I don’t know. An old resistance building, maybe?” She still hadn’t read through all the material on the history of the resistance. Maybe at some point the resistance had held headquarters this far out in the forest. “Or a weapons bunker?”

“No.” Rodney shook his head. “We’ve never been in this part of the forest before. It wouldn’t make any sense to have to walk an hour to get to the supply storage.”

“Colonel Sheppard?” Sam’s voice echoed hollow through the tunnels.

Both held their breath and listened into the darkness. Sam shone the flashlight over their surroundings. A sturdy rope had been tied to a nearby tree, and led down into the hole. Somebody was down there.

Then Sheppard’s voice drifted up, distant and muffled.

“Sir, are you hurt?”

Once more, they couldn’t make sense of the muffled response.

“Somebody has to go down there to get him.” Rodney looked at her and took a step backwards.

Sam’s shoulders sagged. Of course, he wouldn’t volunteer for such tasks. And she really wasn’t in the mood to get into another discussion with him.

“Oh great.” Well, it wasn’t like she hadn’t had practice with underground explorations earlier that day. She shuddered when she remembered the spiders. What if an animal like that existed on Earth? Down in these tunnels…

She closed her eyes. Ridiculous. They’d never seen evidence of such creatures. She sat down at the edge of the hole and looked into it. Only a few meters. It shouldn’t be that bad.

“I’m going down.” She met McKay’s gaze. “You’ll have to radio camp and inform them of our position.” She threw her receiver to him, and inhaled deeply. _Just keep breathing. And don’t overthink._ “Alright, here we go.” She grabbed the rope and climbed down into the darkness, the flashlight between her teeth.

Dirt from the forest floor drizzled down onto her head. When her feet touched the ground, she let go of the rope and turned on the flashlight.

She’d never seen the material of the tunnel before. Almost like crystal, but very smooth. It couldn’t be a natural formation.

“Sam, are you okay?” Rodney looked over the edge into the tunnel, and she nodded.

“Yes, I’m fine. Call camp. Tell them where we are. The tunnel looks stable, and if the explosion didn’t collapse it, then I doubt it will now.”

“Alright, just stay in hearing distance.”

Sam turned away from the opening and looked around the tunnel.

“Colonel Sheppard?”

His voice sounded from somewhere in the distance. She turned right to follow the sound. The farther she walked away from the opening, the cleaner the tunnel became.

After only a few minutes, she stepped out of the tunnel into a large hall. Was this part of an underground complex? “Wow…” She lightened the place with her flashlight. Just like the tunnels before, it looked sturdy. Large white pillars held up the ceiling in numerous places.

Daniel’s speculation from earlier popped back to her thoughts. Maybe he’d been right. Maybe aliens had come to Earth thousands of years ago and built their first civilizations. This structure certainly didn’t look like anything human-built she’d ever seen.

“Colonel Sheppard?” She drew her mind out of her scientific fascination. She had to find Sheppard and take him back to Janet. 

“Hucum.”

Sam raised her eyebrows. His voice was a lot clearer now. Close.

“Sir, I can’t understand you.” She crossed the hall and passed through a large doorway into a second, smaller room. A} large pedestal rose out of the floor. The center of it marked what appeared to be a chair made from some kind of metal.

Sheppard knelt on the ground at the other side of the chair, and worked on some kind of control panel set into the ground.

“Sir, are you alright?” She looked around the room. Aside from the chair, it was empty.

Sheppard mumbled something. Apparently, asking him questions was pointless. She wouldn’t understand anything he said anyway. Still, she had to try. “What is this place? And what are you doing there?”

“Egeo novum locum.” He straightened to look at her.

Sam stared at him, then her gaze fell on the device he was holding. Orange and red, made out of some kind of yellowish crystal. And it glowed. It vaguely resembled a cylinder, but was narrower towards one end.

“What’s that?”

“Egeo novum locum.”

She bit her bottom lip. How the hell were they supposed to communicate like this? If only Daniel were here. Maybe he could make sense of what Sheppard said.

“Alright, sir, I don’t understand you. Why don’t we wait for Daniel, and then see if we can—”

“Astria Porta.” He held up the crystal. His eyes fixed on her as if he expected something from her. Great. What now?

She dropped her arms with a clueless shrug. “Listen, why don’t we go back to camp? You should be in the medical tent, and—”

“No.”

Okay, that one she understood. She frowned at him. “}Frankly, sir, I have no idea what to do. Colonel O’Neill is incapacitated, Colonel Mitchell isn’t at camp, and you’re the commander in charge. But you’re not really yourself right now, so please don’t take it as a sign of disrespect when I refuse to follow your—”

Her breath hitched when he crossed the distance between them and grabbed her shoulders. “Sam, comdo.”

Sam held his gaze. “Sir, please. Why don’t you just wait here? Rodney radioed camp already. I’m sure Daniel will arrive soon, and then we can try to understand what you’re saying.”

He released her with a resigned nod.

She exhaled in relief. “I’ll let Rodney know I’ve found you and then I’ll be back.”

Another nod. Sam threw a hesitant glance at him before she turned to hurry back the way she’d come. It didn’t look like the compound had another exit.

If only she understood, what he wanted. What the hell had this alien device done to him? Where had this underground structure come from?

It didn’t look Aschen, and it didn’t look human. Did that mean other aliens had visited their planet at some point? Aliens who were far more advanced than humans or Aschen had ever been?


	24. New Location

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> This version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

_Spiders crawled towards her from all sides. Sam’s head jerked around and she scanned for a way out. There was none. Terror constricted her throat. Breathe… she couldn’t breathe…_

_The arachnids scuttled closer and closer, their long hairy legs twitching and wriggling. Soon they’d wrap around her body. Again, she tried to scream, but no sound came out. She was alone down here. All alone._

_Her surroundings flashed, and then all went dark. The first furry leg grazed her hand._

_Sam jumped backwards and stumbled right against another hairy body, larger than the others. Legs wrapped around her, capturing her, holding her motionless. Then a screech next to her ear made her skin crawl._

_Her breath lodged in her throat. She screamed as the spider’s sharp teeth stabbed into her neck. She tried to buck and kick, but her limbs wouldn’t respond._

_Spiders approached and gnawed on her hands, her feet, her legs. More balled around her, their red eyes everywhere._

_She’d suffocate. Suddenly the pain stopped and the spiders turned into rocks and dirt that fell down onto her, burying her._

_She tried to dig herself out, but there were too many rocks. It was too heavy…_

She jolted upright with a scream. Panting and soaked in her own sweat, she blinked in the soft light from the petroleum lamp hanging from the tent roof.

“God.” Breath hitching, she dropped her forehead onto her knees. It’d just been a dream. She’d survived, and she was safely back in the resistance camp.

She’d wanted to sleep for a few hours while most of the other camp members examined the newly found underground structure. It would be some time before Daniel deciphered the signs. He’d insisted on copying everything down first before the physicists were allowed to take the technology apart.

She had been exhausted from the day. It had seemed like a good idea to lie down for a few hours and get some sleep. Until the nightmares started.

“Sam.” A voice outside of her tent.

She took a deep breath and ran her palm over her damp face. “Daniel?”

“I’m sorry to wake you, but we have a problem. Sheppard’s gone.” The archeologist sounded miserable.

“What do you mean _gone_?” Sam peeled out of her sleeping bag and pulled a fresh shirt over her head. A quick look at the watch told her she’d only slept about three hours. It would be morning in another hour anyway, so she might as well get up.

She pulled on her pants, then stepped out of the tent.

“Apparently, Sheppard tricked McKay who was supposed to stay with him.” Daniel scratched his head. “We’re searching for him, but so far we haven’t found him. We have no idea what he’s up to.”

Sam groaned and ran her hand through her tangled hair. “Is Colonel O’Neill awake yet?”

“Apparently he is. He’s still drowsy and suffering from the aftereffects of the drugs, though.”

She sighed. “Alright, I’ll join the search. Just give me a moment to wake up.”

“I’ll get some water and then we can meet up at the old oak.” Daniel turned to move towards the supply tent where the bottles with fresh water were stored.

Sam rubbed her temple. Wonderful. Sheppard was gone again. _Damn, McKay._ Why the hell hadn’t he paid closer attention? They should have locked Sheppard in the confinement cell, just as she’d suggested.

Yawning, Sam walked up towards the medical tent. If O’Neill was awake, maybe he’d know how to proceed.

When she entered, Janet was rummaging around the shelves. O’Neill lay on one of the field beds, his body turned on his side, his arms folded.

“Hey.” Sam kept her voice down in case he was asleep. Janet’s head turned.

She looked exhausted. Then again, she herself probably didn’t look any better. Who would after a day like this?

“How is he?”

“I’m fine.” The insistent, grouchy tone from her camp commander made Sam raise her eyebrows.

Janet turned around to face him. “Your vitals say otherwise, Colonel, and no matter how often you insist you’re fine, there’s no way I’ll let you get up until your blood pressure and pulse have normalized.”

O’Neill let out a growl.

The doctor rolled her eyes and looked at Sam. “He’ll be fine, provided he rests. His body’s still weak from the narcotics, and he really isn’t helping himself by being stubborn.” She rubbed her eyes and shook her head. “I won’t last through the night without some coffee. Can you do me a favor and watch him for a moment? I need to get a sandwich and coffee from the food tent.”

“Sure.” Sam smiled. Janet dragged herself out of the tent. When the flap closed, she blew the hair out of her eyes and approached O’Neill.

He struggled to sit up.

“Um, sir?”

“Get over here, Carter. Help me get up.” Again that grumpy tone.

Not a good idea. Janet was usually right in her medical assessment. “I don’t think you should be getting up, sir.”

“Yeah, whatever. I need to get outta here. Ya know, clear my head. I hear Sheppard’s gone nuts, so… uggghhh…” He pressed his hand to his stomach and leaned over to catch his breath. Face pale, he swung his legs off the bed and struggled to get up. “Carter, will you help me already?”

“With all due respect, if you need help to get out of bed, shouldn’t that be a clear sign you’re not ready to leave it yet?” She flashed him a teasing smile, but swallowed hard when he lifted his head and gave her a dark frown. “Sorry, sir.”

Damn, hopefully Janet would return soon. She had the authority in medical issues, and a way of handling patients that Sam lacked. “You don’t look well, sir. I really think you should—”

“Ahh, I’m fine.” He slid down from the bed to stand on his feet. The instant he let go of the bed, he dropped like a sack of grain. A tortured groan escaped him as he lay face down on the tent floor.

Sam rushed to him and touched his shoulder. “Are you alright, sir?”

Another groan. He moved his arm and tried to lift himself up, to no avail.

“Oh boy.” She closed her eyes. Great. Why did he have to be so stubborn? How the hell was she supposed to get him back to bed now?

With another groan, O’Neill tried to sit up. Sam hurried to steady him as best as possible. She pushed against his chest and hooked his arm around her shoulder. At last she managed to raise him high enough to shrug him back onto the field bed. Panting, she shifted his legs onto the mat. His head was at the wrong end, his face buried in the blankets. At least he was back on the bed.

“Thank you.” His voice was muffled by the blanket.

“I hope you won’t try that again, sir.” Breathless, she sat down on the bed next to his. She couldn’t suppress her smile. By his growl, O’Neill had heard it in her voice. After he’d managed to turn over on his back, he scowled.

“I might be mistaken, Carter, but I think making fun of your superior officer is considered disrespectful.” He shifted his head slightly to look at the pillow where his feet rested. “Could you, um, give me a pillow from the bed over there? And a blanket?”

She took the pillow and blanket lying next to her and helped him lift his head so she could place the pillow under him. Then she covered his body with the blanket. “Still in the mood to walk around camp, sir?”

“I think I might stay here just for a few more hours. Just, ya know, rest a bit. Not that I couldn’t get up if I really wanted to.”

“Of course, sir.” She bit her lower lip against a laugh.

“Janet told me I died.” His face grew serious.

“Well, it was close, Sir.”

“And what’s all that talk about Sheppard having gone whacko? Where’s he anyway?” He shielded his eyes with his hand.

“That’s the problem, we’re not sure.” She faltered for a moment. “Hasn’t anybody briefed you yet?”

“Carter, would I ask if I’d been briefed? Spill it, what’s going on?”

“Sheppard ran away. We found him last night. He unearthed some old structure about two miles south of the camp, so almost everybody has moved out there to examine it.”

“What kind of structure?” O’Neill looked at her.

“We don’t know yet. At first, I thought it might be an old resistance building. It doesn’t look like it was built by humans, though. Long story short, Sheppard ran away again. At this point, we have no idea where he is. As soon as Janet’s back, I’m meeting up with Daniel to form a search team and comb the forest.” She swallowed. “I had hoped you might be on your feet again. We really need one of our superior officers in charge.”

“Yeah, well.” O’Neill closed his eyes. “Here’s an order. Find him. And when you find him, get him back here to the medical tent.”

“Well, that was kind of a given, sir. I was talking more along the lines of organizing the search. We have no idea who to listen to. Sheppard’s on the run, you’re still stuck here, and Mitchell won’t be back from meeting some contacts until the day after tomorrow.”

“It’s your responsibility to carry out my order, and make sure the others do as well. So consider yourself temporarily in charge.”

She coughed. “What? No, Sir…I can’t…I don’t think I’m…” She closed her eyes to order her thoughts. “I was thinking somebody higher ranking, sir. I’ve kinda had to take charge all day, and I have no idea what I’m doing.”

“If you did it all day, Carter, then you’re clearly capable. People intuitively seem to trust you as a commander.”

“What about Daniel or Vala? Even McKay has more experience than I do, and—”

“Daniel’s a good archeologist, but he likes to discuss txhings with people. Orders need to be given, not discussed. Mal Doran is too reckless and uses her brains too little for me to trust her to make decisions that affect the entire camp. And McKay is a genius in science, but far too much of a rookie in the field. And sometimes he’s too arrogant to assess situations correctly.”

“How about—”

“I’m not going to discuss my decision with you, Carter. Organize the search, and report back to me when you’ve found Sheppard.”

She snapped her mouth shut. He was losing his patience with her. She had no idea how to carry out his order, though.

He raised his eyebrows at her when she didn’t move. 

“Sir, I can’t leave you alone until Janet gets back.”

“Right.” He groaned and closed his eyes again. “It’s not that I don’t like your company, Carter. I kinda feel like the world’s spinning.”

Sam gave him a soft smile. “Yes, I got that, sir. You need anything? Water?”

“Cake would be swell.”

Sam swallowed. “I don’t have any. And I don’t think there’s a way I can get you any at this time of—”

“It was a joke.”

“Oh.”

A smirk crossed his face. She returned his smile and then shifted.

“Sir… When you were lying there on the operating table...I thought…” She swallowed hard. His gaze grew more intense. Her cheeks tingled with warmth. “I’m really glad you’re okay.”

If only her relationship with him were easier. If only it wasn’t tied to some damn marriage contract that they’d only agreed to ignore because of her refusal to enter a romantic relationship with him. She couldn’t change the parameters of their relationship. Not without bringing up the contract again and destroying what they had now.

He opened his mouth to say something, but the tent flap opened and Janet returned. She raised her eyebrows and looked at the two beds, then put a cup of coffee and a sandwich on the table.

“What on Earth happened here?”

“Well.” Sam swallowed and looked at her, then at O’Neill. 

“He tried to get up, didn’t he?” The doctor folded her arms and frowned at their commanding officer. Sam remained quiet. So did O’Neill. Their mutual silence apparently provided enough of an answer. The doctor shook her head. “Well, you’re gonna have to stay like that until you have enough energy to move on your own. Hopefully that’ll teach you a lesson.”

“I should...” Sam motioned towards the exit.

“Go.” He gave her an exhausted smile. “But keep me informed.”

“Yes, sir.”

 

***

 

They spent almost an hour combing through the forest and yelling for Sheppard. Without success. The search area was vast, and the darkness of the night certainly didn’t improve their progress.

After almost forty-five minutes, Sam shook her head. “This is useless. I’ll go back to the Stargate.”

When Daniel raised his brows, she shrugged. “Well, you said earlier ‘Astria Porta’ means Stargate. Sheppard kept saying it, and the next Stargate window is only fifteen minutes away. I’d say chances are he’ll show up there.”

“She has a point.” McKay flashed the light around them, his shoulders slumped. He was probably just as tired as her. “I think it’s most reasonable to assume Sheppard will try to make use of the window.”

“I already sent Smith and Wong to search the vicinity of the gate.” Daniel scratched his head.

“Sheppard looked very determined earlier when I found him. And Rodney said he stole the lightning gun when he ran away. I think it isn’t unreasonable to assume he’ll try to go through to the gate. No matter what.”

“You mean he might shoot some of his own people?” McKay stared at her, then looked around hurriedly as though Sheppard would jump out of a random bush behind him.

Sam rolled her eyes. “Rodney, I’m not saying anything, but I think it’s an option we have to consider. Colonel Sheppard most likely doesn’t want to hurt us. Which is why he opted for the lightning gun, and not one of our projectile weapons.”

“Alright.” Daniel nodded. “We’ll continue our search here.”

“McKay and I will concentrate on the area around the Stargate. Keep me informed if you find anything.” Sam caught the radio receiver Daniel threw at her.

She and McKay remained silent as they rushed through darkness back in the direction of the Stargate. Rodney probably wasn’t enthused she’d chosen him for this task. He and Sheppard were close friends, though, so if they found him, maybe Rodney would be successful in talking him out of whatever he planned.

As they drew near the clearing with the Stargate, the silence was almost deafening. She faltered.

“Rodney, didn’t Daniel say Smith and Wong were supposed to be guarding the gate?” She scanned their surroundings with her flashlight as they approached the big, dark circle. “Where are they?”

They took a few cautious steps towards the gate, then stopped and listened to their surroundings.

“Ensign Smith? Lieutenant Wong?” Sam’s voice echoed through the forest.

McKay startled next to her and gave her an annoyed frown. “Great idea, yell, so the enemy can hear us.”

“Sheppard’s not our enemy.” She shook her head, then her gaze fell on Rodney’s weapon. “And could you not point that at me?” She pushed the mouth of his gun down.

Damn, she hated working with people who’d never received field training. McKay didn’t even know how to handle a gun. Which was why Sheppard never let him carry one on field missions. Why the hell did he even have one now?

A branch cracked somewhere in the darkness. Both froze.

Sam looked around, her hand shoving McKay’s gun to the ground. Something was wrong. Resistance members didn’t leave their posts without notice.

Her flashlight grazed the dialing device. Too brief to recognize the details, but it was enough time for her to realize something was not as it should be.

She moved the beam of the flashlight back to the desired target, and froze. Shepard knelt in front of the device in the darkness. He’d opened panel on the front. Dozens of small parts and crystals were scattered on the ground around him.

The crystal he had removed from the chair device in the underground structure was hooked up to some cables. Her heart stopped. He’d rendered their Stargate useless. 

“Oh God.” She approached him. No more dialing device, no more Stargate operations. What the hell was he thinking? And how was she supposed to explain this to O’Neill?

Sheppard got up when the crystal lit up brightly.

She raised her weapon. “Sir, step away from the device, please.”

Great, just great. It would take them forever to reassemble the dialing device. Nobody had any idea how it worked yet.

“Egeo novus locas.” Sheppard held her gaze, unmoving.

“What the hell?” Rodney stepped forward, scanning the ground, then glared at Sheppard. “Do you have any idea how long that’s going to take to reassemble?” All his previous concern Sheppard might hurt him appeared forgotten. He picked up some of the smaller pieces, then turned to face Sheppard, frowning. “No, you don’t, do you? Just take things apart and let the scientists deal with the mess. I can’t believe this.”

Sheppard glanced at his watch, and then stepped to the dialing device, gently nudging Rodney aside. The scientist still rambled on about the time and effort it would take to figure out how to put the device together again. For once, Sam understood his annoyance. It wasn’t like they didn’t have enough work to do as it was.

Sheppard pushed the first button on the dialing device.

“Sir.” Sam hoped her voice conveyed warning, but Sheppard didn’t even look up. “John, step away from the device. You know we can’t let you go.”

“Oh my God.” Rodney’s voice rang out, startling Sam. She turned her head to look at the scientist, who’d stepped a few feet towards the bushes.

Ensign Smith and Lieutenant Wong lay at Rodney’s feet on the forest floor, neither of them moving.

Blood rushed in Sam’s ears. Sheppard hadn’t really… “Are they dead?”

Rodney crouched down to press his fingers to Wong’s neck. “No, they’re still breathing. My guess is they were shot with the lightning gun. Sheppard, are you out of your mind?”

Sheppard had pushed a fifth button on the dialing device.

“Sir, please step away from the device.”

The sixth chevron locked. If he locked the seventh…

Sheppard pressed a seventh symbol but the event horizon didn’t open. She was about to exhale in relief, when Sheppard pressed an eighth symbol. Sheppard pressed an eighth symbol. The event horizon opened, a shiny, light-blue splash that lit up the dark forest.

Eight symbols. How was that possible? Every gate address consisted of seven symbols. She swallowed. They had to completely rethink their assumptions if it was possible to connect to other planets with more than seven symbols.

She snapped out of her scientific train of thought when Sheppard took a few steps towards the gate.

“Stop.” She tightened her fingers around the handle of the gun. “Sir, I can’t let you go and you know that. You know our protocols. In your state, you’re a security risk. I don’t want to have to shoot you but if you don’t—”

Rodney pounced towards the soldier in an attempt to tackle him to the ground. The lightening gun discharged, and the scientist slumped to the ground with a groan. Frozen, Sam stared at the unconscious Rodney, then her gaze lifted to Sheppard.

For an endless moment, their eyes locked. The lightening gun pointed at her now. Would he shoot her?

A discharge from the lightening gun, though extremely painful, wouldn’t kill her. But it wouldn’t exactly help the situation to provoke him into shooting her, too. For the moment, they’d reached an impasse.

Sheppard took a step backwards toward the event horizon.

Sam shook her head and signaled surrender by lowering her weapon. “John, don’t do that.”

Remorse flashed in his eyes, and his steps faltered. Then he shook his head. “Egeo novus locas.”

If only she’d understand, what he was saying. No matter what she said, she wouldn’t be able to change his mind about going through the gate. Sheppard looked down at the lightning gun, then lowered it, still moving step by step towards the gate.

He’d almost reached it, and their timeframe was almost over, which would mean at any second the wormhole could dematerialize and the event horizon would close. Maybe if she stalled... She just had to gain a few more seconds.

She lifted her gun again. Sheppard didn’t falter. Only two more steps…

Damn, if she wanted to prevent him from leaving, she’d have to shoot him. She aimed the weapon at his knee, her fingers trembling. What would she accomplish by this?

She’d been trained to shoot. By now, she’d even become good at it. But she’d never imagined someday she’d have to shoot a superior officer—especially a friend. They apparently couldn’t help him. Neither Janet nor Daniel had any idea what was wrong with him.

Sheppard, on the other hand, seemed to have a solution for his problem. Maybe it was wishful thinking to interpret his insistence on walking through the gate as knowledge of how to reverse his condition. Then again, something told her she should let him go.

O’Neill had explicitly ordered her to bring Sheppard back to the medical tent. If she acted against his orders now…

She closed her eyes. There was no time to ask a superior officer for advice. She had to rely on her own judgment. She lowered her weapon. “Go, sir.”

Sheppard gave her a reassuring smiled and then took the last step. His body dematerialized into the event horizon.

She stared at the shimmering blue surface and considered following him through the gate, but the next second, the Stargate shut down. Darkness surrounded her. Doubt crept in. She had no idea where Sheppard had gone.

Had she made the right decision? She turned to walk back to the dialing device. The yellow crystal Sheppard had attached to it no longer glowed. The dialing device was dead.

 

***

 

“Sheppard did what?” Jack stared at the small group of scientists standing in front of his field bed, all of them looking rather awkward and remorseful.

When Daniel and McKay remained silent, Carter cleared her throat. “He walked through the Stargate…sir.” Her voice sounded small.

“Well, Jack, you were incapacitated, so we had to make decisions on our own.” Daniel folded his arms and held his gaze.

“You let Sheppard walk through the damn Stargate to an unknown planet?” Jack frowned at them. “Am I the only one who has a problem with this scenario?”

“Actually.” McKay glanced at Carter. “I was against it, too.”

The young woman glared at him, then her gaze locked with Jack’s. “It was my decision, sir. Rodney was unconscious and Daniel wasn’t even there. They had nothing to do with it.”

“Oh?” Jack folded his arms. “And would you care to elaborate why you let one of the highest ranking members of our group leave like that? With all his inside knowledge about our operations? Not to mention one of our most valuable pieces of technology?”

“It was a hunch. Sir.”

A hunch? He glowered at her and Carter flinched. “Some hunch.”

“Well, sir.” She cleared her throat again. “Sheppard was determined to go, with or without my permission. I did what we were taught in training. I minimized casualties. Frankly, sir, I don’t think a gunshot to the knee would have stopped him. So my only choice would have been neutralizing him. And I couldn’t…” She swallowed visibly. “I didn’t want to revert to such drastic means, sir. So I took a chance.”

Jack sighed. She hadn’t been trained for solo missions or assassinations, so he really couldn’t hold her decision against her. Carter’s gaze found his.

“I’m convinced Sheppard knew what he was doing. I can’t explain it, but—”

McKay scoffed. “The man disassembled the dialing device.”

Jack raised his eyebrows. “Excuse me?”

McKay shifted. “Well, he took the entire dialing device apart. I can probably fix it, but that’ll take time, and until then we can’t use the gate. I don’t know what he needed to hook the crystal up for, but apparently it served as some kind of power source to give the gate extra juice to dial eight chevrons. We assume that adds an extra distance calculator to gate travel.”

Jack pressed his fingers against his temples and scowled at them. If he heard one more useless scientific ramble, he was gonna lose it. 

“In short.” Daniel stepped in. “We think he dialed a gate that’s outside our known network of gates. Maybe another galaxy.”

“And disabled our Stargate in the process.” Seriously, he didn’t care for the scientific mambo-jambo. How the hell were they supposed to continue Stargate operations if they couldn’t dial the gate?

“Yes, sir.” Carter swallowed hard, her brows scrunched. “But if we manage to reconnect the dialing device back to its original power source, we should be able to get it to work again. He really just replaced the dialing device’s original power source with—”

“Carter.”

“My point is, sir, the fact that Colonel Sheppard managed to reroute power in a way we wouldn’t have been able to do says something about his state of mind. He knew exactly what he was doing.”

Rodney scoffed again. “Please…”

Carter folded her arms. “I understand if you don’t agree with my decision, sir. And I’m sorry if I disappointed you. I’m willing to take full responsibility and deal with the consequences. I still believe that I made the right choice, given the alternative.”

“Easy.” Jack sighed and softened his voice. “You made a judgment call. We’ll have to wait and see if Sheppard returns. I’m not happy about the broken dialing device, but I’m sure you all did the best you could. Since we have no other choice but to wait, I suggest you devote your energy to getting the dialing device working again. We need to be able to continue our Stargate operations. We still have a team off world, but returning through the gate shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

“No, sir.” Carter visibly relaxed. “We just can’t dial out at the moment.”

“Alright then, let’s hope you can get the dialing working again.” Jack lay back down against the pillow. Damn, how he wished he could get out of this freaking bed and the medical tent. “Dismissed.”

The scientists turned and moved to leave the tent. Jack leaned up on his elbow. “Carter, a word please?”

She flinched and took a deep breath. He chuckled. Did she expect some kind of reprimand? He studied her for a moment, then decided to put her out of her misery. “I didn’t even thank you yet.”

“Um, sir?”

He softened his voice. “You saved my life back in the mine.”

“Oh. Well, there’s no need to thank me, sir. All I did was have your back. You would’ve done the same for me.” She shifted and swallowed, her gaze locking with his. He froze. Was she blushing? Sweet. “Besides, it was Sheppard who saved you in the end. If he hadn’t—”

He smirked. She was about to start babbling again, wasn’t she? “Still, thank you.”

She returned his smile. “Think nothing of it.” Biting her lower lip, she looked at the exit. “I should probably go and help Rodney with the dialing device.”

“Yeah.” He studied her. Was it just him, or did she not want to leave? “I’ll be stuck here until tomorrow, so you’ll know where to find me.”

“I’ll come by later on.” Her cheeks flushed even more. Damn, she was beautiful. “I mean, to report on the progress with the dialing device and where we are with the underground structure.”

Jack allowed a warm smile. “By all means. That’ll give me something to look forward towhile being stuck in this god-forsaken tent.”

A soft laugh bubbled from her. She didn’t look at him as she turned and left the tent.

 

***

 

Sam spent the next three hours fixing the dialing device with McKay. Once Daniel discovered old files in their archives regarding the device, the task was surprisingly easy. Apparently, the scientists who had first studied the gate had drawn detailed blueprints of it in an attempt to understand how it worked. While they had been unsuccessful, their schematics enabled Rodney and her to reassemble the device as it had been before.

By the time they were done, the sun had reached the horizon.

“Alright.” Rodney wiped his palm across his dusty face and yawned. “I don’t know about you, but I’m going to get the biggest sandwich I can find, and then sleep the rest of the day. Wake me up when Sheppard returns. _If_ he returns.”

Sam looked up at the sad undertone in his voice. He’d never admit it, but he and Sheppard had grown to be close friends while working together. Rodney kept claiming he was annoyed at Sheppard’s fixation on acquiring weapons. But he still insisted keeping his position on Sheppard’s team.

She sighed.  Sheppard was gone because of her. Yes, she’d defended her decision in front of O’Neill, but if she was honest with herself… What if she’d been wrong? What if she’d let personal feelings influence her decision?

Sheppard was her friend, and she hadn’t wanted to kill him, though protocol dictated she shoot him. Her only other option had been to let him go. What if she’d endangered their position with her weakness?

Sam sighed and packed up her tools while McKay started walking back towards camp. 

Sleep… As much as the thought appealed to her, the nightmares she’d had the previous night kept her from giving in to the urge. How long would they haunt her?

Metal screeched as the Stargate began spinning, and chevrons lit up. Somebody from the outside was dialing the gate. Her heart sped up.

“Rodney!”

It was their Stargate window. Exactly six hours after Sheppard had disappeared. She looked at the scientist who hurried back towards the dialing device.

The wormhole opened, and for about a minute, nothing happened. Then Sheppard stepped through, carrying two crystal devices with him, one in each hand.

“Colonel Sheppard, sir!” Sam exhaled, relieved, and took a few steps towards him. He grinned at her.

“Carter. It’s good to be back.”

“Wow.” He didn’t speak Latin anymore. “Sir, you’re back to normal.”

McKay trotted towards them, regarding Sheppard cautiously. “You’re not gonna shoot me again, are you?”

Sheppard rolled his eyes. “Rodney, I’m sorry. I wasn’t exactly myself.”

“Where the hell did you go? And what on Earth are those…?”

“I don’t remember much, but apparently I built them. I think they’re power units of some kind. I’ll leave the details up to you. Figure them out.” He dumped both crystals into McKay’s arms. “I am exhausted.”

“Well, sir, we think your brain held the knowledge of an alien species for a while, so it’s not surprising you’re tired. How did you reverse the process?” She followed him as he started walking towards camp.

“I removed it myself using one of the machines I found after I stepped through the gate. Don’t ask me how. I just knew how to do it. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna take a shower.” He yawned with a stretch.

“I think Janet will want you in the medical tent first, sir.”

She flinched when Sheppard frowned at her. Better to remain silent now. She’d been disrespectful and insubordinate enough times in the past twenty-four hours and, while those incidents had all been justifiable in their own ways, she didn’t want to push her luck.

She was glad that Sheppard had returned safe and sound. The day had come to a somewhat satisfying end. The details could wait until their debriefing.

 

***

 

Jack looked up when the tent flap opened. His mood improved immediately when Carter entered, flashing him a bright smile. Damn… like the sun had just risen in the tent. Did she even know how much she could affect a guy with that smile?

He swallowed.

On the bed next to him Sheppard shuffled some papers around. At least he wasn’t the only one confined to the medical tent. He dropped the file he’d been going through.

Sam came to a halt at the foot of his bed. “Hi.”

“Hey.” He smiled at her.

She looked at the papers, then scanned his bed.

Sheppard grinned. “Sorry for the mess. We figured, since we’re stuck here, we might as well work.”

“I was just reading your report about the mine.” Jack held up the file. “You sure wrote it up fast.”

“Well, sir, I wanted it over with. Besides, you always want them as fast as possible.”

He narrowed his eyes when he saw the shadow flash across her face. From what he’d read she sure had been through a lot. Freaking monster spiders. Scary. Not something one wanted to remember.

“It was an impressive job.” Sheppard jumped in and waved at the file. “Jack let me read it.”

“It was a damn good job, Carter.” Jack nodded. “I don’t think either of us could’ve done better, and that’s saying something. You should think about command.”

She gave a soft laugh. “As flattering as that is, sir, I think one day was quite enough. If it helps, I now have a new appreciation for the work you do on a daily basis.” She flashed him a cheeky grin, and he chuckled. “Besides, with my risky decision of letting Colonel Sheppard walk through the Stargate, alone... I hardly think I’d qualify for command.”

Jack raised his eyebrows. Was that self-doubt?

Sheppard shrugged. “It was obviously the right choice.”

“Regardless, sir, it was risky and irresponsible. It wasn’t the best decision with regard to our resistance movement. I ignored protocol. If things had turned out different…” She sighed and dropped her arms. “I consider you a friend, sir, and I think I let those feelings influence my decision.”

“Carter.” Jack shook his head gently.

“Sir, it could have endangered our entire resistance if the destination, which I knew nothing about, had turned out to be an Aschen world. You were right in what you said.”

“You made a judgment call.” He shrugged. “It was risky, but you took responsibility for it afterwards. It’s what we do.”

When she raised her eyebrows, he shook his head. “The reality of the field doesn’t follow a rulebook, Carter. It’s often necessary to, let’s say, bend the rules and hope for the best.”

She ran her hand through her tousled hair. “But sir, if I can’t trust the rules, how can I determine which one is the right decision?”

Jack straightened. A leader. She displayed all the characteristics of a leader, and she didn’t even realize it. Well, how could she. Women didn’t usually become leaders. It probably hadn’t even entered her mind she might be one.

“Instinct.” He leaned forward. “Which you have.”

She raised her head, her gaze meeting his.

He gave her a warm smile. “Your behavior during the last twenty-four hours was exemplary. Granted, I wasn’t thrilled by your decision at first, but that’s exactly my point. Sometimes the circumstances go beyond what’s written in the guidelines. It takes brains to recognize such a situation, and courage to take responsibility for acting accordingly. You displayed both.”

She stared at him and swallowed visibly. “So you’re not angry I disobeyed orders?”

From the bed next to Jack’s Sheppard chuckled. Jack frowned at him, then turned back to Carter. “Have you ever thought about where you want to go in the resistance?”

“Sir?”

“Carter, I wasn’t kidding. You should think about a command position. You have excellent qualifications. Besides, people naturally accept you as a leader.”

“Well, I… I didn’t…” She looked overwhelmed. “Frankly, sir, right now I’m just glad I can go back to following orders instead of giving them.”

Another chuckle from Sheppard. This time Sam frowned at him.

“Sorry… sorry.” He grinned. “It’s just that, about eight years ago I told my cell commander the exact same thing. He’s right, Carter. You got it in you and you don’t even know it, do you?”

Jack cleared his throat. “We’re not talking right away, Carter. It takes at least five years of resistance experience to be considered for a command position. So you’ll still have a lot of time and opportunity to take orders. But maybe you should ask yourself whether you can imagine giving them someday.”

She shifted, then after a moment nodded. “Someday, absolutely. Yes, sir.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” He closed the file lying in his lap on the blanket. Then his gaze fell on a little box she held in her hands. “What’s that?”

A blush tinted her cheeks and she fidgeted nervously.

“Well, sir, I was scheduled to go to town with Siler and get this week’s ration of bread. While we were in town earlier, I got you this. I know how much you hate being stuck here, so I wanted to do something nice. But I didn’t know what you’d like, so…” She hesitated, then held the box out to him. It was only slightly larger than his hand. Curiosity growing, he took it from her.

He opened the top. Cake. He looked at her, and the warmth in her eyes made his heart speed up. “Cake’s always great.”

“Well, you asked for some last night, so...” Her smile came almost shy.

His stomach flip-flopped. “Thank you.”

Her smile grew wider and she sat down at the foot of his bed. Jack shifted and studied her. This wasn’t just cake. She’d actually taken time and some of her own money to get him something he liked. There was hope for them.

“Hey, you didn’t bring me anything?” Sheppard looked at her, disappointment flashing across his face. Jack flinched inwardly when Carter paled. Clearly, she hadn’t forgotten about him on purpose. Very effective, though. If Sheppard had still been under the impression she might be into him, this certainly set things straight.

Sheppard seemed to take his defeat with good humor. He grinned at Jack, then eyed the cake. “You willing to share?”

“Not a chance.”

Sheppard shrugged. Oh yeah, he clearly knew when to back down. 

“Well, sir.” Carter cleared her throat. “I didn’t know you’d be in the medical tent. I didn’t mean to insult you but… I knew, Colonel O’Neill liked cake and… it was just…”

“Carter.” Why not put her out of her misery? Although, awkward Carter was always cute. “He’ll be fine. Have you even slept yet? You and McKay repaired the dialing device, you wrote up this report, and then apparently went to town with Siler.”

“I slept a couple of hours, sir.” She swallowed visibly. “Frankly, it’s not something I’m looking forward to at the moment. So I’m keeping myself busy.”

He raised his eyebrows and straightened. He recognized the signs of trauma and stress when he saw them. Too many times, especially in his younger years, had he been on dangerous missions and was faced with nightmares afterwards. “Janet has sleeping pills, you know.”

“I know, sir. But I can handle it.”

“You don’t have to handle it.” He grazed her hand with his.

“It’s really no problem, sir. Although I did realize yesterday I might be stuck with a major fear of spiders from now on. That might become a problem in the field.”

“Pshaw.” With a wave of his hand, he grinned at her. “No problem. We can handle that. Let me know when you see one of the little buggers, I’ll take care of it.”

She cocked her head and folded her arms. “Yes, sir, because that wouldn’t be ridiculous at all.”

He chuckled.

Sheppard looked up. “You could take one of the field beds and sleep. There’s enough space here.”

“Actually, that’s not a bad idea. Having company around does help with the nightmares.” Jack motioned at the field bed next to his. “Let Janet give you one of her sedatives and bunk down in one of these.”

She shook her head. “I really don’t think—”

“Do I have to make it an order?”

“You can’t give me an order like that.”

“But _I_ can.” The doc’s voice interrupted them from the entrance. “And as much as I normally hate non-medical personnel giving medical advice, these two actually have a point. With everything that’s happened, you need to sleep.” Janet went past Carter and touched the bed next to Jack’s. “Lie down.”

“Janet, I’m fine, I’m not tired.”

“Only because you keep yourself awake. Been there, done that.” Sheppard’s boyish smile faded instantly when faced with Sam’s glare.

“I’m _fine_.”

“Sam, as the camp’s chief medical officer, I’m giving you a direct order.”

Jack suppressed a smirk. The doc was getting into dragon mode again. How refreshing to see that it was because of someone else for a change. She’d been picking on him all day.

“You can either lie down here, or you’ll be confined to your personal tent until tomorrow.”

Sighing, Carter sat down on the bed, then scowled at Jack and Sheppard. “Thanks for that, sirs.”

“Sorry.” Jack grinned at her.

“No, sir, you’re not. I’ll remember that next time you’re drugged and insist on getting up.” Her voice was a whisper.

He chuckled. “That wouldn’t have happened had you obeyed my order and helped me.”

Janet returned with a cup of water and a pill, and handed both to Sam. “Take this.”

Obediently, she swallowed the pill with the water and then laid back with a sigh. “You didn’t have to give me a sleeping pill.”

“Just a mild sedative. You’re already tired, so all we have to do is get you to wind down a little bit.” The doctor covered her with one of the blankets. “Just try to relax. I’m sure the guys can help you take your mind off things. If you get sleepy, don’t fight it.”

Jack raised his eyebrows at Janet. “Sure, always glad to help somebody fall asleep in my company.”

Sam burst into laughter as Janet rolled her eyes at him. Then the doctor disappeared behind the room dividers in her little office.

“Thanks again, guys.”

Jack turned his head, and held the box out to her. “Peace offering. Want a bite of cake?”

She gave him an open smile. “No, sir, it’s yours.” She shuffled onto her side and studied him for a moment. “I’m really glad you’re okay, you know.”

Her gaze intensified. Damn, why did things have to be so complicated between them? Maybe… if he talked to her again about the marriage contract. He swallowed. But what if they went down the same road as last time?

Jack drew his eyes away from her when Daniel burst into the tent, a stack of files in his hand. “Jack.”

“Daniel.” Jack’s eyebrows rose when the archeologist unceremoniously dumped the files at the foot of his bed.

“Jack, this is amazing. The underground structure—”

“Hi, Daniel.” Jack folded his arms. “How are you feeling? Everything alright? How’s your day going?”

Daniel sighed and rolled his eyes. “Hi Jack. How are you feeling? How’s your day?”

“Good. Better. Being stuck here kinda sucks, you know how it is. You?”

“Great. Alright, can I tell you what I found now?”

“Go ahead.” Better to get it over with fast.

Daniel started into a drawn-out presentation about his findings at the underground structure, the language that Sheppard had spoken, and the alien device that had caused his situation in the first place.

After a good ten minutes, Jack finally stopped him. He glanced at Carter. Surprisingly she looked almost as clueless as he was. “Carter?”

“Um, I’m not sure I understand it myself, sir. Daniel, are you saying you found the same language from the alien device on P63-284 here on Earth, in the underground structure?”

Daniel nodded. “Yes, exactly the same. The language Sheppard spoke, the language from P63-284, the language here in this structure and ancient Latin—they’re all the same language. Well, actually, ancient Latin was probably derived from this language. Sheppard was able to read this.”

Daniel held up some of his photos of the alien device, which Sheppard had so eloquently named ‘ _headsucker_ ’. “I’ve spend the last hour going over my notes. The entire underground structure was built long before the pyramids in Egypt, or even Rome. Well, back then it was most likely not even underground. See, Antarctica was covered in ice for thousands of years due to our last ice age, and only thawed by the Aschen weather control units about two-hundred years ago. The building might be tens of thousands of years old.”

Jack frowned at him. “Bottom line?”

“Well…” Daniel looked at his notes. “This might be the greatest scientific discovery we’ve ever made.”

He looked from Sheppard, to Jack, and then to Carter. Neither of them apparently displayed the enthusiasm he’d hoped for. Although in Carter’s case it was probably due to the pill Janet had given her. She looked increasingly foggy.

Jack nodded. “Well, that’s great. What does the inscription say?”

Daniel cleared his throat and scratched his head. “I haven’t gotten that far yet. I mean, I can translate some words, single phrases, but not the entire text.”

Jack groaned and looked at him, annoyed.

“But this is still huge progress. Using the coordinates Rodney and Sam remembered from the dialing device when Sheppard left, I think I’ve found a reference to the location. It was one of the cities of the people who call themselves ‘Anquietas’—the ancient ones. There’s a reference to the location in the underground structure. It lists the same Stargate coordinates in reference with a word, “Atlantus”. In Earth mythology, there are references to a place called “Atlantis” in some of the earliest stories from ancient Rome and ancient Greece. Most of the scriptures of those times were destroyed by the Aschen, but I think they might be the same place.”

Jack narrowed his eyes. At this point, shutting Daniel up was futile. “Which helps us how exactly?”

“For one, it’s proof for my theory that aliens came here to Earth. Maybe humans are even descendants of those aliens. But with the crystals that John brought back, we could go there again.”

“Now that’s definitely worth looking into.” Jack looked at Sheppard. “What do you remember of the place? Any weapons or technology we could extract? Would it be safe for us to send occasional science teams there to evaluate the value of the place?”

Sheppard shrugged. “From what I can remember, it’s a huge city, but it was completely surrounded by water. I don’t know why it wasn’t flooded, but there was breathable air all around.”

“Force shields,” Carter mumbled from her bed. Jack raised his eyebrows at her. “It’s an advanced technology that Goa’uld ships work with. Simply put, they’re an energy barrier capable of keeping things in or out. In this case, it keeps the air in and the water out.”

Well, who’d have thought? Drug her, and she was actually capable of giving short explanations that made sense. Jack smirked.

“Yes.” Sheppard straightened. “It did look like there was an invisible wall. The only thing I remember is that I built some of these energy crystals. All of the materials were there already, and I just knew what to do. I exchanged the depleted ones in the city to restore energy, and used a device to heal myself. Then I returned to Earth.”

“Interesting.” Carter struggled to sit up, apparently fighting her drowsiness. “So we could actually send a science team there for a while.”

“Easy Carter.” He didn’t want her getting excited about something science-related again before she’d slept for a few hours. “At the moment we don’t have the resources to send a permanent team anywhere. Besides, we don’t even know who we might piss off by setting up camp there to raid the place for technology. If it’s in another galaxy, we have no idea what we’d be dealing with. Let’s face it, we know nothing about that place. And our aim in going through the Stargate is not exploring other galaxies, but finding help to rid our world of the Aschen.”

Daniel leaned forward. “Yes, but Jack. There could be technology in Atlantis that might help us.”

“There could also be people out there who don’t take our invasion of their city as an act of friendliness. I don’t want to fight a war on two fronts, let alone with another galaxy. Besides, we’ve just found that underground structure. Why don’t you guys get busy on that first?”

“Jack, don’t you understand the implications of this? They’re the same people. The people who constructed the building we found here on Earth, and the people who built that city of Atlantis.”

“Great, Daniel. Then you’ll be able to find out a whole lot about them here on Earth.”

Daniel sighed. “Fine, but promise me you’ll let us go there as soon as we deem it safe.”

“If that happens, we’ll talk about it and I’ll consider it. Emphasis on consider.” Jack watched as the archeologist collected all his files. “Maybe someday, we’ll have more resources and can make it a priority to go out there for the sake of the exploration itself. But not as things are now. Traveling back and forth would require too much power.”

“Fine, then send a permanent team. I volunteer.”

“No. I need you here. You’re our only archeologist. And I need Carter, McKay, Felger and Lee here as well. We don’t have many scientists, and I can’t spare a single one of you for a long-term exploration. As much as I’d like to send Felger to the moon sometimes.”

“Daniel, he’s right,” Sam mumbled. “We know practically nothing about what we’d be getting into. As a physicist, I can think of a lot of things that might go wrong. Starting with the city’s force shields failing, and all of us drowning, because we don’t know how to handle the technology. We have to gather more information first.” She lay back against the pillow and closed her eyes.

Daniel handed Jack a folder. “Fine. This is my first overview of the findings of the structure. We also drew a preliminary plan of the rooms. It doesn’t seem to be very big. I suggest making work on it a priority if we don’t have any missions scheduled. I’d like to devote my time to the translations of the inscriptions.”

“Permission granted.” Jack nodded. “I’ll assign Felger and Lee to support you. McKay can assist when he doesn’t have any missions scheduled. Carter, I want you to focus on the chair device when we’re not on missions. I want a detailed analysis of its technology.” He skimmed over the pages in the file. When Carter didn’t answer, he looked at her. “Carter?”

Her eyes were closed. She’d curled onto her side, features relaxed. She was fast asleep.

“Let her sleep.” Jack smirked at Daniel. “Janet gave her a pill to help her rest. I’ll brief her when she wakes up.”

“Alright then.” Daniel kept his voice soft. He smiled at Carter before he left.

Jack took a bite of cake. Cheesecake. The best he’d ever had. Maybe there was hope for him and Carter after all.


	25. Live and Let Die

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> This version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

“That’s him.” O’Neill’s gaze fixated on a man in a suit coming towards them. Three men followed him, all of them wearing guns at their belts.

Sam swallowed hard and checked the gun at her own belt. She’d seen the kind of guys they were dealing with in the month before she’d joined the resistance. Their motives were rarely honorable. Better to be prepared for anything.

O’Neill raised his eyebrows at her. “You okay?”

“Yes, sir. They just don’t look like trustworthy people.”

He gave her a smirk and nudged her with his shoulder. “They’re not. Which is why I’m taking you as backup.”

“Comforting.”

“Just relax. Raymond Reddington’s as honorable as they come. His syndicate has supplied us with weapons for almost five years now. Unless you wanna screw him over, there’s nothing to worry about.” He leaned in. “Still, keep an eye on him. And I need you to check the goods. Ya know, make sure everything works the way it’s supposed to.”

“Oh.” Sam nodded. Was that why Sheppard had spent all of yesterday briefing her about how to determine the quality of a handgun?

“And don’t mention the resistance. To them we’re just another local crime syndicate dealing in weapons and technology.”

“Yes, sir.” Okay, don’t mention the resistance, keep an eye on them, check the goods. Shouldn’t be that hard to accomplish. Her fingers trembled. She folded her hands behind her back to hide it as they approached the criminals.

O’Neill’s face became a hardened mask. He and the criminal greeted each other with false smiles and empty words.

“Jack.“

“Raymond.”

“How’s life down here?”

“Good. How is your wife?”

“Lizzie? She’s very well, and as lovely as ever. Newest acquisition?” The man took off his hat and eyed Sam with obvious curiosity.

“My associate. I see you’ve replaced some of yours?” O’Neill looked at the men behind Reddington.

“Well, sometimes you have to clear the rotten fruit from the apple basket before they spoil the rest.” Reddington laughed. The men shook hands. “Your goods are on my boat, if you want to take a look at them.”

“Great. Carter’ll check them if you don’t mind?”

Sam glanced at Reddington. It had to be clear to him O’Neill wasn’t really asking a question. Still, it seemed part of a well-perfected routine.

“The woman is a weapons expert?”

“Physicist.”

Reddington raised his eyebrows and smiled at her. He looked almost friendly, but she knew better than to fall for appearances. 

“A woman versed in sciences and weapons? Intriguing. Not to mention advantageous in covert operations. I don’t suppose you’d be willing to sell her to me?”

She held her breath and looked at O’Neill. His face remained blank, but something in his eyes darkened. “She’s not my property, Ray. She’s an associate. I advise you and your men treat her as such if you want us to keep doing business in the future.”

Reddington nodded, signaling the way to the boat. “As you wish. This way.”

O’Neill indicated for her to follow him. Sam cautiously fell into step behind him as the men led them along the pier. Every instinct told her following the men onto their ship wasn’t a good idea, but O’Neill looked calm and controlled. She trusted his instinct.

He’d completed these transactions before. Surely he knew what he was doing, and how to deal with criminals.

The cargo hold of the middle-sized boat wasn’t overly big. In the dim light of a petroleum lamp, Sam recognized about a dozen boxes, all standing in a row.

“You had quite an extensive order this time.” Raymond signaled one of his men to open the first box. “It wasn’t easy to acquire some of the parts. Especially the grenades. Since the new Aschen laws prevent humans from manufacturing or assembling explosives, I had to be very creative.”

O’Neill turned. “Our customer’s willing to pay a ten percent bonus to cover any additional expenses.” His smile looked controlled, dangerous. He had to have expected the raise in price. “Provided they meet the quality requirements. Carter?”

Right. This was her cue. With a glance at the criminals, she walked up to O’Neill. Two of Reddington’s men followed suit. Their proximity made her fidget, and she swallowed hard as she stopped next to her commanding officer.

He gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. She picked up one of the grenades from the open box and examined it. Well crafted. Heavy, which meant metal instead of cheap plastic parts. She gave the pin a little tug. It loosened easily.

“Genuine, and well crafted, sir.”

“Of course they are.” Reddington gave them a false smile.

They stepped over to the second box. P-90s. She took one out and held it in front of her. Good handle. Normal weight, not too light or heavy.

O’Neill handed her a magazine and she thrust it in, then lifted the weapon and fired. Nothing. The trigger blocked. Brows raised, she repeated her steps. Same result.

Calmly she put the weapon back and took another one from the shipment. Again it wouldn’t fire. Probably poorly manufactured triggers.

“These aren’t any good, sir. I might be able to fix them, but it would require additional resources and time. Our _customer_ doesn’t have use for them the way they’re now.”

“Ray, I’m disappointed.” O’Neill folded his arms, mock-reproach in his voice. Contrary to his words, he must have expected something like this. Why else would he have taken her to check the shipment?

“I don’t know how this happened. I assure you my supplier insisted they were top quality weapons.” Reddington shook his head.

“I’m sure he did. But these won’t do. If you can supply a batch of working ones, I’ll be happy to offer you a good price for the next shipment.”

He refused to pay for the weapons? The hair at the back of her neck stood as the two men eyed each other darkly. Her muscles tensed. Reddington wasn’t going to do something stupid, was he?

Then the criminal relaxed and laughed. “Of course. I’ll be happy to give you the next batch with a twenty percent discount.”

“I have another list of things we need, so I expect the replacement with the next shipment. I can go over the details with you while my associate checks the rest of the boxes.” O’Neill pulled a piece of paper out of his back pocket.

Reddington nodded. “Very well.”

“Carter.”

Sam gave him a faint smile, indicating she was going to be okay. “Yes, sir.”

The two men stepped aside to negotiate the details of the next shipment. Sam walked to another box to go through the rest of the weapons.

She opened each box and examined the weapons and gadgets inside. One of Reddington’s watchdogs followed her every step. A tall, unpleasant-looking man in his mid-forties who exuded a rotten smell. He didn’t let her leave his sight. As though she’d be able to steal something or break things on purpose.

“So… you a scientist?” A sly grin played around his mouth.

Sam glanced at him with a curt nod. “Yes. Physicist.”

She wasn’t in the mood to start a conversation with him, so she remained focused on the task. Handguns. She picked one up and cocked it. Easy handling, well crafted. She unhooked the empty magazine. It slid out immediately, and fastened with a click when she pushed it back in. Perfect craftsmanship.

She bent down and put the weapon back into its slot in the box. Then she froze.

A warm hand trailed across the cheeks of her buttocks. The bastard was touching her. Rage welled up inside her. When the gangster hummed with appreciation, she closed her eyes. She didn’t care who he was or how many guns he had, he had no right to touch her like this.

“Take your hand off me.” Her voice was a mere hiss as she straightened and stepped away from him.

He grinned insolently, baring a row of blackened teeth. He leered, his gaze raking over her body. “How does a pretty thing like you end up in a job like this?” He stepped closer, reaching out to touch her arm.

Sam took a step back and slid around the container to the next row of boxes she had yet to check. “I’m not interested in you, and I don’t do small talk.”

“You think you’re too good for someone like me?”

Suddenly he moved in behind her and pulled her hard against his body. She caught her breath. Disgust overwhelmed her when his free hand grazed her stomach, then trailed up to squeeze one of her breasts through her shirt.

Her elbow crashed against the man’s ribcage and he released her with a groan. She spun around and glared at him. “I said, don’t touch me.”

He grinned darkly. “A sassy one. Oh, I’d have so much fun taming you.”

Taming her? Her eyes narrowed. When he took a step towards her again, she snapped her fist up and hit the man’s nose.

Ouch. Damn, that hurt. She winced, satisfied when the man tumbled backwards with a grunt and held his nose.

The gangster’s face registered shock and confusion for a split second, but then his eyes blazed. Before she could blink, he’d drawn his handgun. The cold muzzle pressed against her forehead, the safety unlocking with a soft click. She froze.

“You little bitch!”

Ice poured into her veins. Crap. One look in his eyes told her he wasn’t kidding around. “I… I…” Her voice trembled.

The gangster ran his hand over the corner of his mouth, scowling at her. Then he tensed visibly when another gun clicked right next to his ear.

“Drop it.” O’Neill’s voice was a dark rumble. Sam’s eyes shifted. She didn’t dare breathe.

Jaw clenched, O’Neill glowered at the gangster as he held his gun with a steady hand. The darkness in his eyes sent a chill through her.

“Red, I’m disappointed. Is this how you treat associates of long-term customers?”

Reddington strolled up the cargo hold to stand next to him.

An air of violent darkness surrounded O’Neill. For a moment, Sam could imagine him as one of these gangsters. Dark. Dangerous. Deadly. Like the man she’d first met in the barn in Ireland.

“She hit me.” The gangster released a growl. “Seems you don’t have your associates under control.”

She managed a glare. “I wouldn’t have hit you if you hadn’t touched me.” If only her voice didn’t shake so much. She turned her head and stared directly into the barrel of his gun. If he pulled the trigger now, she’d die so quickly she wouldn’t even realize what had happened. Cold fear numbed her muscles, and the blood drained from her face.

“Drop. It.” O’Neill didn’t move. “You got five seconds.”

Oh God, he was capable of killing the guy. His relentlessness was terrifying—and fascinating at the same time. She looked at the gangster in front of her. “Listen, I didn’t…”

 _Bang._ The gunshot echoed hollow through the metal walls of the cargo hold.

Warm drops hit her face. _It’s over._ She waited for the pain, numbness, cold darkness. Nothing happened. She stared into the gangster’s widening eyes, then at the dark red circle at the side of his head.

Mortified disbelief flashing across his face, the man crashed to the ground.  A head shot, well aimed and coldly executed. That couldn’t be. O’Neill hadn’t just…

Slowly she lifted her head to stare at O’Neill who dropped his gun. _Oh God._ But then he turned to Reddington. She followed his gaze.

The gangster lowered his revolver and holstered it at his belt. “Sorry about that.” He gave Sam a nonchalant smile as though incidences like these were everyday occurrences for him.

Face blank, O’Neill lowered his gun. Sam wiped her palm across her forehead and nose. Blood. Her breath hitched. She had drops of the man’s blood on her face. How the hell could O’Neill act as though nothing had happened? There was a dead body on the ground. A man had been shot right before his eyes.

And Reddington? He apparently killed people on a daily basis. What the hell had she gotten herself into?

“You better make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.” O’Neill glared at Reddington. “I don’t like people threatening my associates. And I don’t appreciate having to deal with your mess and the incompetence of your subordinates.”

Mess? Did he really refer to a man getting killed as a mess?

“You okay?” Her gaze snapped when he grabbed her arm. “Carter.”

She stared at him. Instantly, his grip loosened and his expression gentled. He reached into his pocket and handed her a tissue. She took it, and wiped across her face. The metallic smell of blood mixing with the residue of gunpowder was beginning to make her nauseous.

“Finish the inspection of the goods.” His voice had a soft edge.

“What about…” Sam’s gaze drifted down to the body. He placed his fingers under her chin and tipped her head up, forcing her to meet his eyes.

“He’s not our problem. Be glad it’s him lying there and not you.” He leaned in to her ear. “Finish the job. We’ll talk about this later.”

With those words he released her and walked back to Reddington. Shakily, Sam forced her attention back on the remaining boxes. She had a job to finish.

 

***

 

The instant they stepped out of the damp cargo hold, Sam inhaled the fresh, salty sea air. Thank God they were finally out. She checked her watch. Only half an hour? It had felt much longer to her. Especially with the body on the ground, his empty eyes staring at her.

The gangster had died because of her. Because of a misunderstanding… How crude and violent to just shoot a subordinate like that. How could O’Neill just brush it off and act as though nothing was wrong?

She watched as the men exchanged another round of meaningless pleasantries. Reddington’s remaining two men carried the boxes out of the ship’s cargo hold onto the pier. She checked to make sure they delivered all of the right boxes, and then sat down on one of them, while the men said their goodbyes.

Her gaze drifted out to the horizon, the endless ocean. The sun stood low already. Waves lapped calmly at the pier.

She turned her head when O’Neill sat down next to her.

 “You did well.” The hint of a smile played around his mouth.

“If you consider being responsible for a man’s death doing well.” Maybe she shouldn’t be so snippy. And maybe he shouldn’t be so damn indifferent considering what happened.

His smile faded. “He should’ve kept his hands to himself. I expected something like this to happen.”

She stared at him in disbelief. “You expected it? How about giving me a heads-up. Maybe I would have handled the situation differently to avoid such an outcome.”

“These guys are criminals, Carter. You can’t play nice with them. If they sense fear or hesitation in you, they won’t respect you as an equal business partner. You reacted the right way and ascertained credibility. His men will never disrespect you again.”

She couldn’t believe her ears. A man had died, just so O’Neill could make sure she showed her muscles?

“I disagree, _sir_. It was entirely unnecessary.” She scoffed. “A man just died. Because of me.”

“No.” His voice was hard and he frowned at her. “He died because he didn’t treat Reddington’s business partner with respect.”

She frowned at him, then turned her head to look at the ocean again.

“Carter, with those people it’s either you or them. Deal with it.” His voice gentled. “This won’t be the last time you’ll see something like this. I know, you’ve never been trained to kill.”

She remained quiet. She’d been trained as a soldier, but this was different. In the field she never shot to kill. She shot to defend herself. What she’d just witnessed wasn’t self-defense. It was cold-blooded murder.

“And you have?” Her gaze locked with his.

“I have what?”

“You’ve been trained to kill?”

“Yes.”

Just _yes_? She just stared at him slack jawed. His face remained blank.

“I guess I forgot…” She swallowed hard. Of course he hadn’t become commander of a resistance cell by playing it nice with people. “You’ve shot people like that, haven’t you?”

He held her gaze. “Close range? Yes, I have.”

There wasn’t even remorse in his voice. She closed her eyes. “Oh God.”

“I’m not gonna apologize for it, if that’s what you are hoping for. It’s part of the job. I don’t like it, but sometimes it’s necessary.”

She stared at the water. Sunlight reflected off the waves. Somewhere above them seagulls screeched.

It had been naïve of her to think O’Neill hadn’t killed before. He’d made it all the way to camp commander after all.  She’d always been able to push the thought aside. During the time she had worked with him, he had never displayed the kind of darkness she’d witnessed now. The relentlessness in his eyes, the determination.

Perhaps over the marriage debacle, the off-world missions and their banter, she’d become a little sidetracked.

“Hey.” O’Neill nudged her with his shoulder. “I wasn’t the one who shot the guy.”

She studied him. “No, sir, but you were ready to. I saw it in your eyes.”

He nodded. “He was threatening to kill you. I’d rather have him dead than you.”

Warmth washed through her and she shifted. Why on Earth did his statement make her feel fuzzy? This was inappropriate. She folded her arms. “I’m sure he wouldn’t have shot me.” Was she, though? The criminal had looked pretty damn determined.

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that.” O’Neill leaned against the box behind him with a sigh. “I don’t like killing, Carter. I avoid it whenever possible.”

“Reddington apparently doesn’t.” She leaned back as well, her arm brushing his.

“Reddington doesn’t interfere in the way I handle my subordinates, and I don’t tell him how to deal with his. Live and let live, that’s how the business works. We can’t be picky about the men we do business with. Reddington’s reliable and trustworthy in his deals. Besides, his subordinates aren’t innocent people. The man he shot was probably engaged in prostitution, slave trade, and weapons smuggling.”

“I know that.” Sam studied the reflections of sunlight on the waves in the distance. “I guess I even expected that kind of behavior from them. But you… You were so cold, as if taking a life was completely meaningless. For a moment in there you were one of them.”

She felt his gaze rest on her and didn’t dare turn her head.

“Sam.” She held her breath at the gentleness in his voice. “I’d never hurt you. Or anyone at camp. It’s my responsibility to protect my people. Sometimes that’s not a pretty job. If I had the choice, I’d opt for another way. I can’t change the way it is. I don’t enjoy killing. But if there’s no other way, it doesn’t come hard to me.”

She released a breath.  

“Do you think that’s something you can live with?” He sounded seriously concerned. Sam shifted and inhaled deeply. His question was almost too intimate, targeting something beyond their professional relationship. Tingles fluttered through her stomach.

It wasn’t his fault his job required drastic measures. He’d made clear to her during boot camp training that their work in the resistance came with sacrifices. She knew he could be a dangerous, relentless soldier if he wanted to be.

He was still the same man. It had just been a new situation. And something about his darkness thrilled her, stirred something inside of her that made her tremble with excitement. 

At last, she nodded. “Yes, I can.”

His mouth twitched into a smirk and he squeezed her arm gently. Then he moved to get up.

“Sir.” She stopped him in his tracks. “Why did you take me with you today? You know weapons aren’t my specialty. Colonel Mitchell or Colonel Sheppard are a lot more qualified to handle these things. And they usually do. So why me?”

He brushed some dust off his black khakis. “If you wanna get into command someday, you’ll need to learn to handle these things. You gotta be able to do things you don’t like, and deal with shady people.”

She straightened. “Command?”

“You said you’re interested in giving orders someday.”

“Yes, but I didn’t think you were serious when you…” She shook her head, baffled. “I’m a woman, and besides, I thought…” She locked her gaze with his. “I assumed you shared my father’s opinion regarding my position in the resistance, given the fact that we’re...” Great. The dreaded subject of their marriage again. She winced.

O’Neill sighed. “Carter, I thought you’d know me better than that. I made my opinion on that matter clear. You’re qualified and you’re interested in command, end of story. Putting you in a low-ranking position just to keep you out of harm’s way would be a waste of your talents.”

Heat flooded her at his smile. He really supported her command efforts? Maybe she’d been wrong about him.

He shrugged. “It’ll be a few years until I can give you your own Stargate team, but the earlier we start preparing you, the better.”

“Thank you… sir.”

He raised his eyebrows. “For what?”

“For the opportunity.”

He smiled. “I’m gonna radio Sheppard and the rest so we can start carrying this stuff into town. Can you label the boxes according to their contents?” He threw a roll of labels at her.

She caught it. “Yes, sir.”

“I’ll be right back.”

 

***

 

Roughly an hour later, all the boxes were loaded onto two donkey-drawn carriages standing in the market place, ready for transportation to camp. Mitchell went through the cargo list while Sheppard fed a carrot to one of the donkey’s and patted its head. 

As Sam got ready to walk up to camp behind the carriage, O’Neill gave her a gentle nudge and signaled her to step aside. Brows raised, Sam followed him to the side of the road. “Sir?”

“Good job.”

“Thank you, sir.”

He cleared his throat and looked around the marketplace. “So… lunch?” He concentrated too hard on folding up the transport papers. 

She held her breath. Did he just ask her out? “Um, sir?”

“I’m starving. And today’s Steak Day at O’Malley’s. The best, juiciest steaks you’ve ever had.”

“What about the shipment?” Sam looked at the carriage, now slowly moving down the street. Sheppard and Mitchell walked next to the donkeys.

“They’ll handle it.” He rearranged his base cap.

“Well, what about Sheppard and Mitchell? Shouldn’t we have invited them too?”

“They already had lunch at O’Malley’s while we were making the transfer.”

“Oh.” She glanced at him. Lunch alone with him wasn’t a good idea. Not with everything that had happened between them. It would bring up the marriage contract again. “I don’t know, sir. I have a lot of work at camp, and I promised Daniel—”

“Oh, fer crying out loud, Carter. Will you relax?”

She stared at him.

“You work harder than anybody at camp. You deserve a little downtime. Or at least a steak. You haven’t eaten anything since breakfast this morning.” He held her gaze, then his face gentled. “It’s just steak.”

She released a breath and winced. “I don’t… I’m not really hungry, sir.” Damn, she was starving.

He held her gaze for a long moment, then he finally shrugged, resigned. “Alright. I’ll see you later on at camp then.”

He tipped his cap up and turned to walk toward O’Malley’s at the other side of the marketplace.

Sam watched him leave, stomach growling. Steak. She hadn’t had a steak in ages. All they ever got up at camp were sandwiches and rice, and even that was strictly rationed. The way back to camp would take at least three hours with the carriages.

It was just steak after all.

“Sir!” She hurried to follow him. He stopped and turned when she reached him.

“Carter?”

She tilted her head to one side and smiled at him. “Actually, steak sounds great, sir.”

His mouth tugged into a gentle lopsided smirk. “Good. Let’s go then.”


	26. Top of the World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> This version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

Sam inhaled the crisp night air and rubbed her arms, as she scanned the dark marketplace.

_“So, a few more weapons deals and you can take over the task altogether.”_

With those words O’Neill had started their conversation that afternoon when they were sitting at O’Malley’s. She had expected him to regard their lunch as a date, but he had ordered two of the day’s dishes and then started discussing missions, reports and artifacts.

And then, somehow, somewhere, the conversation had spun out of control and made her forget all about her surroundings. He had let her talk about science, the artifacts, and her experiments without cutting her off. He’d even asked questions occasionally. They’d talked and talked, and then suddenly it was dark outside.

She’d never known he knew so much about the matter. Of course, he had to have deeper knowledge of science and technology. As camp commander, he’d gone through a multitude of training sessions and classes. He had to be able to repair simple things, and he had to have a deep understanding of what was going on in nearly every area at camp in order to make effective command decisions.

Apparently, his preference for curt explanations sprung from a certain laziness as well as a fondness for timesaving. Not, as she’d always assumed, because he wasn’t interested.

She turned when the door behind her opened. O’Neill stepped outside. “Ready?”

She nodded. “Ready.”

Behind them the door opened again. During the evenings, O’Malley’s seemed the place to be in town, and the restaurant turned into a bar. A drunken man staggered outside, and pushed into Sam. She stumbled against O’Neill, her hands splayed on his chest as he steadied her. Their sudden closeness made her head swim with his scent. His warmth surrounded her, his palms burning through the shirt at her waist. Heart pounding, she glanced up at him. He smelled like smoke from the bar mixed with fresh mint, a combination that reminded her painfully of their last night together at the bar.

How good his body had felt against hers, how much she’d needed to feel his bare skin… How much she’d wanted him. God, she _still_ wanted him.

His gaze locked with hers, his mouth so close their breaths mingled. His heart raced under her palm. So intimate. Cheeks flushing, Sam lowered her gaze and took a step back. “Sorry, sir.”

“Let’s go back to camp.”

Was it just her imagination or did he sound hoarse? She didn’t dare look at him, but instead turned toward the road leading out of town.

They walked in silence along the street that turned into a dirty path winding its way along the coastline. Houses and buildings became large pine trees and cliffs framing the path.

Sam looked at the ground at her feet. A light danced on the ground. She raised her eyebrows and looked around. It was dark, but not as dark as it should be.

Finally, she lifted her eyes to the sky and came to a dead stop, her fingers brushing O’Neill’s arm.

“Oh my God…”

“Carter?” He frowned at her, sounding alarmed. Then he looked up as well.  “Ah. The Aurora.”

She stared at him.

“Southern Lights.” He smirked. “They happen frequently. I’m surprised you’ve never seen them before.”

Right. They were close to the South Pole. Why _had_ she never seen them before? She lifted her gaze back up to the shimmering curtains lighting up the sky in a myriad of hues, turquoise green, purple and pink.

“Apparently it has something to do with the sun and magnets.” He cleared his throat and then shrugged when she widened her eyes. “So they say…”

“I know that, I’m just amazed you do.” She gave him a warm smile. “And I’ve never seen them before.”

“That’s because you always work and never relax.” He grinned.

She cocked her head in mock-annoyance and then looked back up. “It’s too bad the trees are ruining the view. Can you imagine how amazing they’d look from a place where you have a clear view of the entire sky?”

He raised his eyebrows. Then his fingers wrapped around her hand. Electricity jolted through her, the lights forgotten for a moment. His eyes sparkled. “Come with me.”

He pulled her off the path down a little hill in between shrubs and bushes.

“Sir, where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

After a few minutes, the backside of the cliffs framing most of the coast rose before them. Purposefully, O’Neill followed along the wall until they reached a stony little path that led in between the cliffs.

Sam glanced up at him. Since he seemed to know what he was doing, she followed him through the narrow passageway. When they reached a larger pile of rocks and boulders blocking their way, they stopped.

“Careful where you step.” He climbed up. She followed closely behind him. They crawled along the stones, and down again on the other side. O’Neill jumped the last meter down onto the rocky path. “This is a bit tricky.” He turned. “Come here.”

Before she had a chance to protest, he grabbed her around the waist and lifted her down to stand next to him. Heart quickening, she looked at him as his fingers lingered a moment longer than they should have.

She placed her hands on his arms, grazing his heated skin. “Thank you, sir.”

His gaze intensified. Her breath caught when his face inched closer.

“Come on, we’re almost there.” He let go of her and pointed at the rocky path ahead of them. It ended in a dark tunnel leading into the cliffs.

“Um, sir?” Sam hesitated. Where was he taking her?

“Watch your head.” He vanished in the darkness.

As she stepped inside after him, it took her eyes a moment to get used to the sudden absence of light. Light shimmered through in the distance. She reached for O’Neill’s arm, worried she’d run into a boulder or rocky wall. His fingers closed around her hand. Such a strong, warm grip. She fixed her eyes on the growing light ahead of them.

The tunnel ended, and she came to an abrupt halt. The ocean and endless horizon stretched before her, the flares and lights of the Aurora dancing all across the skies. She forgot to breathe.

“Oh my God.” Releasing his arm, she walked a few steps through the soft sand towards the water. A secluded beach, framed by rocks and cliffs on both sides. “Wow.”

Lights danced on the surface of the water in the distance, transformed their surroundings into an almost mythical landscape. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so beautiful.”

O’Neill chuckled behind her. “A bit ironic, don’t ya think?”

“Sir?” She gave him a confused smile.

“I mean you, a physicist, dare I say, _astro_ physicist. You’ve been so absorbed in your textbooks and theoretical experiments you haven’t even seen the real deal.”

She bit her lip on a smile. “You’re right, sir. I should go out more, huh?”

Arms wrapped around herself, she sank down to the soft sand of the beach. The vast surface of the ocean and the endless sky above were almost transcendental. Waves crashed onto the shore, broke against the cliffs and smaller rocks, and lost themselves in the fine sand on the beach. She inhaled the salty breeze that played with her hair.

The rhythm of the waves and the calm dance of the lights above soothed her into almost hypnotic fascination.

 _Solar Flares._ The lights were only solar flares, diverted by Earth’s magnetic field. Tiny particles bouncing off the atmosphere. There was a reasonable scientific explanation. And yet… She’d never seen anything so divine.

“I love it here. It’s like we’re at the top of the world.”

“Well.” O’Neill smirked. “Technically we’re at the South Pole so wouldn’t it be the bottom?”

She turned her head to him. “Actually, sir, in a three-dimensional space, up and down are relative. They depend on perspective.”

“Right.” He chuckled.

She tilted her head and studied him. He _had_ known that, hadn’t he? Was he trying to give her an opportunity to talk about science? Usually he cut her off as soon as she even gave the impression she’d start into an explanation, so what was going on?

She shifted. “Am I holding you up, sir? If you want to go back to camp, I think I’ll find my way back out of here.”

“You’re not.” He sat down in the sand next to her. Sam lay back and gazed into the flared up sky. In between the dancing lights where the brighter colors slowly turned into darker blue and black, massive amounts of stars spread over the sky like millions of little crystals lying on black velvet. The infinity of the universe. She swallowed. How small they were compared to that vastness, how ridiculously insignificant their problems.

“You know, back home I always looked at the stars at night. I tracked their movements and searched for the stellar constellations. But I’ve never seen them like this. So close. It’s like there are millions more.”

His arm brushed hers as he shifted. Goosebumps spread across her skin.

She swallowed hard. “Did you know that a lot of the stars we see don’t exist anymore? Their light takes so long to reach us, by the time it does, they’ve burnt out and died. Every time we look at the stars, we only see them as they were at some point in the past. Like looking back in time.” She turned her head to glance at him. “If we could see the Aschen homeworld from here, we’d only see it as it was around fifty-thousand years ago.”

O’Neill’s gaze met hers. A hint of a smile played around his mouth. He turned on his side, propping his head up on his hand. She held his gaze. Her skin buzzed with awareness of him, and she inched closer to his warmth. 

He reached over and brushed strands of her short blonde hair aside, the pad of his finger grazing her cheek in the process. She swallowed, her breath hitching. Oh, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. They were too close. And the expression in his eyes… Her heart sped up. This was dangerous territory.

“You know the stellar constellations?” He shifted to lie on his back.

Sam turned her head back to the sky. “Only the ones for the northern hemisphere. I studied the southern ones, but I haven’t had the time to map them out yet.” She smiled. “You know, it’s funny…”

“What?” His head turned.

“We spend so much time trying to free the Earth of the Aschen that we don’t even realize how beautiful this planet we’re fighting for is.” She winced at her own statement.  “Okay, now I sound like one of those cheesy poetry books, don’t I?”

He chuckled.

She bit her lower lip. “How often do you come here?”

“Ah, every once in a blue moon. You know the job. It doesn’t allow for much time off.” He stared up into the sky. “But it’s kinda cool thinking about all those other planets up there we’ve actually been to already. Ya know, wonder which ones of those tiny little dots they are.”

“Um, actually sir…” She flinched. “Most of those we can’t actually see. Just two, maybe three.”

He raised his eyebrows at her, then cleared his throat and nodded, face blank. “Yeah, I knew that.”

A soft laugh bubbled up and she turned her head against his shoulder in an attempt to stifle it. He was cute trying to cover up a mistake. When she looked up at the sky again, she didn’t move her head away from his shoulder.

“There, that’s the Southern Cross.” He pointed at four distinct stars visible between two curtains of light. Sam moved closer to look in the direction his finger was pointing. “And those ones, slightly to the right, they form Carina.”

She studied him in astonishment. How did he know so much about the star constellations, unless… Had he mapped out the sky? Was he interested in astronomy? Maybe they had more in common than she’d thought.

“Well, that’s about all I know offhand.” He gave a soft shrug.

“If I had brought my star charts, we could map out the sky.”

He turned his head, gaze studying her profile. “I’d like that.”

When he dropped his hand back down to the sand, it grazed Sam’s and sent jolts of heat through her. She fought to concentrate. “Are you interested in astronomy?”

“Well, I like to watch the stars, and mostly know what’s up there, so I’d say yes. But nowhere near your level.”

“My level?” She pondered his statement for a moment. “You attended a university, I didn’t.”

“Yeah, well, a degree in advanced farming technology doesn’t really make you an expert on stars, Stargates and, um, quarks.”

Again she had to stifle a laugh. “Quarks?”

He cleared his throat. “Isn’t that a physics thing?”

“No, sir, you’re right, absolutely.” A bit out of context, but he was so cute when he tried. “So you studied farming technology?”

“Like almost every human boy from a rural area. There’s really nothing exciting or extraordinary about that.”

“Yet you made it into the resistance, up to camp leader.”

Their gazes met, his breath washing warm against her cheek. “Out of necessity. Like most who found their way into the resistance. For me, it was either that or another forced marriage.” He winced and cleared his throat.

Yeah, maybe not a good turn of conversation.

“After Sarah left, I didn’t want to be re-married. Your dad offered me the option to join the resistance, and disappear from the Aschen’s radar. Pretty much like you did.”

“I was never in one of the breeding facilities. Dad made my positive test disappear.” With all she knew about her father now… That he was part of the resistance and one of the highest ranking members… He must have taken a great risk to protect her.

“He’s a good man, ya know? Your dad, I mean. And I’m not just saying that because he’s my friend.”

“I know.” She observed the blinking light of two brighter stars vanishing and reappearing beneath a curtain of turquoise light. “I just wish he’d told me he is working for the resistance and let me make my own decisions instead of excluding me from them. Things might’ve been different.”

If she’d known her father was a high-ranking resistance member, if he’d just let her in on his secrets and allowed her to get to know O’Neill before signing the contract… She turned to her side and leaned up on her elbow to study the man next to her. “Do you still have family?”

“No.” His face remained blank. “Both of my parents died in a riot against the Aschen government. They belonged to a small group who refused to take the Aschen vaccines. I was the first generation of kids to whom they were administered, which is probably why I turned out gifted nonetheless.”

Sam’s eyes widened, her hand grazing his arm.

O’Neill shifted to lie on his side. “About forty years ago, the Aschen changed an entire line of laws and put more resources into security forces. Every district was assigned a government official who kept record of births and deaths. It became nearly impossible to have a child and prevent it from receiving the obligatory drugs. The new laws started a number of uprisings in regions with groups refusing to take the vaccines.”

“I’ve never heard about that.” Uprisings against the Aschen government? How come she’d never read anything about them in the Aschen computer files?

“Doesn’t surprise me.” He shrugged. “The Aschen were always quick in quelling rebellions, and destroying all evidence of their existence afterwards.”

“Okay, wait a second. If your parents never took the drug… How come they were never in breeding facility?”

“Most people in their group were gifted, but the Aschen didn’t know about it because they weren’t on file. Since they refused to take the anti-aging vaccine, their lifespan was also reduced to about seventy years. Most of them only had two, maybe three kids at the most. Not enough to make a difference in the general number of human population on Earth.”

“Yet it was enough of a threat to the Aschen if they put all those efforts into enforcing the laws. Do you have any siblings?”

“No.” He shook his head. “I was a lonely child.”

Sam lay back down, and for a long moment, neither of them said a word while they observed the lights dancing above. Then O’Neill turned his head.

“So, you lived with your dad your entire life?”

“Yes. We have a house just outside of Powhatan City. Privileges of a high-ranking Ministry employee.”

He chuckled and nudged her gently. “So, no little farmhouse in a tiny rural town on the Pacific Coast of North America, huh?”

Her cheeks tingled with warmth. “No, sir. Sorry for that.”

“Ah, forget about it. I kinda understand why you lied. To be honest, if you’d turned out to be the daughter of a random Ministry worker, I would’ve been a bit concerned that you were a spy.”

Sam giggled. “I knew you’d be. I didn’t know my dad was resistance, otherwise I might have told you earlier.”

He gave her a warm smile. “For a sheltered city girl to make it all the way to Ireland is quite an accomplishment.”

“It’s not that hard. You can find work on the streets if you’re not picky. You just gotta know who to talk to.”

“Work on the streets?” His eyebrows climbed up to his hairline.

Sam stared at him. Yeah, that just sounded wrong. Her cheeks burned. “Oh, no. Nothing sexual. I mean, there were offers, but I never actually…you know…let anybody touch me for money. Not voluntarily at least. Not that anything ever happened…”

Oh God, she was still talking. Sam flinched when she saw the sparkle in his eyes. She released a sigh and breathed out a giggle. “I repaired things. After I realized as a woman I’d only get work related to sexual favors, I disguised myself as a boy. Eventually Aschen hired me for extensive repairs on one of their harvesters scheduled to go overseas. Once it crossed the Atlantic, the crew dropped me off there and I figured I’d take it from there.”

Appreciation flashed across his face. “That’s pretty damn creative.”

“As you said before, sir, necessity.” Her fingers grazed his.

“I hear worker’s quarters on the Aschen harvesters are more like slave camps with very little privacy. Didn’t you worry about getting found out?”

“They are. I stayed as far away from the rest of the men as possible. They thought I was a teenage boy, so there was some initial pushing around, but they stopped after a day. Maintaining my cover really wasn’t that hard. I just had to be careful not to undress in front of them.”

“Certain things are hard to miss… I mean…” He vaguely waved towards her chest and cleared his throat.

Her cheeks flared. “Tape and bandages, sir. Wasn’t really pleasant, but it served the purpose.” She studied his features. His dark eyes. The soft wrinkles around them. His graying hair. She resisted the urge to run her hand through it. “What were you doing in Ireland?”

“I have a contact there who I know from when we were both children. I grew up in a town close to the bar where we met.”

Now that was surprising. Who’d have thought?

He shrugged. “Well, my name kinda gives it away. O’Neill’s pretty Irish.”

“Yes, but your dialect doesn’t. You don’t sound like someone from the Ireland region. You sound standard Earth with a hint of North American.”

“I guess it kinda phased out over time. I worked in solo missions for a while. In preparation, they train the accent out of you to make it harder for the Aschen to find out who you are, or where you’re from. To protect your family, provided you have any left.”

“Why did you go into such a dangerous field?” She shifted closer, her cheek resting against his shoulder.

“After my son died and Sarah left, I needed to reassess my position in the world for a while. Solo missions were a good way of doing that. Nothing makes you realize how badly you want to live like facing almost certain death.” He looked up into the sky.

Sam held her breath. He’d been depressed up to the point of suicidal. It didn’t surprise her, given everything she’d heard about his past. He’d lost a child. Even though for humans marriage and children were forced upon them, parents usually loved their children. Having lost both his child and his wife in such a short timespan had to leave an impact on him.

She squeezed his hand. “Are you still involved in solo missions?”

She shouldn’t care so much. They were all employed in a dangerous line of work where anyone of them could be killed on a mission at any time. The thought that he might still be involved in something even more dangerous, though… Her blood ran cold.

O’Neill turned his head and studied her. Finally, he shook his head. “No. Camp leaders are the command branch. Solo missions are rogue fighters. I transferred to another resistance cell, and later on the Stargate program in order to get out of that line of work.”

“That’s good to know.”

“Carter.” He smirked, the glint in his eyes making her stomach flip-flop. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re worried for my health.”

She smiled. “Of course I am, sir. Even though I may have accidentally shot you on occasion, I very much want you to stay alive. We’re…friends.”

He held her gaze. “Friends…”

She swallowed and dropped her gaze to his lips. Only a few inches… “Yes, sir.” Damn, why did she sound so breathless all of a sudden?

She turned her head back up to stare into the endless sky. She felt his gaze on her face, making her nervous and lightheaded. How easy it was to talk to him. How could they have so much in common and be so different? 

“You think people at camp are getting worried about us?”

“We did stay out pretty late.” He smirked. “They might send out a search party if we’re not back by midnight.”

Midnight? What time was it anyway? She shivered slightly against the cooling breeze. She’d forgotten her jacket on one of the carriages.

O’Neill shifted and draped his jacket over her chest and arms, then pulled her close against him, his arm draped around her shoulder. “C’mere.”

Her breath lodged in her throat. “Thank you, sir.” He was so warm. And he smelled so good. She looked back up at the sky, her head resting on the spot between his chest and his shoulder.

This wasn’t too intimate. Two friends could lie like this together. Her skin tingled. His fingers grazed her arm and then stilled, his thumb drawing lazy circles on her skin. Heat pooled in her abdomen.

If she leaned up now… If she tasted his lips… She needed to feel more of his touch on her skin. A groan threatened to escape her. Not good. This crossed a line. She shifted and sat up.

The jacket fell off her shoulders, the crisp breeze cooling the exposed skin of her arms. “We should, um, probably go back to camp.”

O’Neill studied her, and for a split second she thought she saw the hint of a smirk. “Sure, if you want.”

They got up and brushed off the sand as best as possible. When they were done, they looked at each other.

“You got a…” He reached out and pulled a little twig out of her hair. His warm fingers lingered against her cheek. She held his gaze. The gentleness she read there took her breath away. So unlike the tough, relentless soldier she’d seen earlier that day during their transaction with the criminals.

She inched closer to him, her hand reaching out, brushing against his. Her breath hitched, gaze dropping to his mouth. Oh, the things he’d done with his mouth that first night at O’Malley’s.

There was nobody around. It was just the two of them on a secluded little beach. The possibilities… Kissing him, undressing him… letting him undress her. His hot palms exploring every inch of her body, his mouth kissing hers, brushing down her neck… She let out a shaky breath.

Thank God the Aurora above masked her flushed cheeks. Friends. They were friends, nothing more. With him it could never be just a kiss, or a touch. Or one night. It’d be her entire life.

Her stomach tightened. She wasn’t ready for that. Not as long as she wasn’t sure about what she wanted. Besides, she was just doing so well in her work that… She froze, her gaze shooting up to meet his. Her work... He wasn’t just supporting her in her command efforts to manipulate her into the marriage, was he?

She withdrew her hand and stepped away from him. The entire evening had turned into something a lot more personal. Something beyond their ranks. How the hell had that happened? Was he just trying to win her over?

“Sir, you know I won’t change my mind about our marriage, no matter what you promise me, right?”

He stared at her, and for a moment looked taken aback. “What?”

“Well…” She shifted and fidgeted. “I mean even if you train me in command, or involve me in other things you know I want to do, I can’t be bribed into—”

“Carter.” His eyes flared. “You really think I’d sink that low?”

Sam cleared her throat and swallowed hard. Okay, maybe she’d been wrong.

“I’m considering you for command because you earned it. I don’t bribe or coerce women into sleeping with me or marrying me. Least of all by promoting them.”

“Okay, it was stupid of me to assume—”

“Damn right, it was. Yes, I like you. Hell, I think, it’s pretty obvious by now I’m physically attracted to you.” He shook his head. “I will seduce, Sam, not coerce, or bribe.”

“Sir.” She took a step towards him. “I didn’t mean to imply…I just…I didn’t want you to misunderstand today.”

Sighing, O’Neill scratched a hand through his hair. “Carter, can we just agree for now that me trying to advance your career doesn’t mean I have an ulterior motive?”

“Yes, sir.” Sam nodded, and looked up at him. “I’m really sorry. It wasn’t fair of me to jump to conclusions.”

He turned to stroll back to the tunnel entrance. “Why don’t we make a deal to not make assumptions about each other anymore from now on?”

“Fair enough.” She nodded, then stopped short when he turned right before entering the tunnel.

“And I promise you, Carter, when I seduce you, you’ll know.”

Sam stared after him, speechless. “ _When_ , sir?”

She heard him chuckle from a few meters ahead.


	27. Breathless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> This version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

“Well, this was an intergalactic waste of time.” Jack trudged through the high grass of the uninhabited planet.

“Um, Jack…” Once again, Daniel seemed to be in disagreement with his evaluation of the day. Carter released an audible sigh and quickened her step. He couldn’t blame her. He and Daniel had argued all day.

“Yeah, yeah, except for those ruins you found so fascinating.” He ran his P-90 across some of the blades of grass. “Even though I really don’t see the merit in those.”

He picked one of the bright pink orchids growing everywhere and twirled it between his fingers. In the distance, the Stargate came into sight, promising the end to an unbelievably boring mission.

“Jack, we talked about this. With our knowledge of the ancients, technology isn’t our only priority anymore. Those inscriptions in the ruins—”

“I know, the more information we gather about the ancients, the greater our chances of understanding their technology.” As though Daniel hadn’t mentioned that in every one of his reports recently. Twice. At least.

Jack hurried to catch up with Carter and handed the flower to her. She looked up at him, eyes wide. When he smirked, she gave him a reluctant smile in return. Her fingers grazed his as she took the flower. She lifted it to her nose and inhaled deeply.

Jack turned to Daniel. “I still don’t see why that means we gotta waste twelve hours sitting around on a deserted planet. Just take pictures of the damn inscriptions or copy them into your notebook and do the research back at camp.”

His stomach lurched when he glanced at Carter, who turned the delicate flower between her fingers with an absent-minded smile. That smile alone had been worth the trip to this planet, he decided. His spirits lifted. Judging from the expression on her face, she wasn’t even listening to their discussion anymore.

There was definitely something between them. It’d started the day that he had taken her out for steak at O’Malley’s. He just wasn’t sure what exactly it was yet, so he was cautious with his advances towards her. The last thing they needed was another setback.

“It’s not the same, Jack. I need to look at the inscriptions. There’s just certain things that might get lost in a photo. Just think of…”

Jack tuned Daniel out. When Carter glanced at him, he grimaced, indicating Daniel’s long-winded explanations. She stifled a chortle.

“Alright.” Jack half-smirked when he turned to Daniel to put an end to his rant. Not that he’d listened. “Just... next time, try to hurry it up a bit.”

The archeologist rolled his eyes, but relaxed. “So, Sam, are you going to join us tomorrow for bar night at O’Malley’s?”

Right, their celebration night was coming up. It would be the first one after seven months and the long polar night. Jack turned to Carter.

She shook her head. “I don’t think so. Not with all the research in the ancient’s underground structure, and the reports I still have to finish.”

He groaned. “Come on, Carter. Once every blue moon, remember?”

“Sir, I really have a lot of work piling up. Besides, McKay’s staying at camp as well.”

“He’s a lost cause, you aren’t. Don’t make me make it an order.”

She cocked her head, shooting him a half-amused glance. “I hardly think you can give me orders about how to spend my free time. Sir.”

“No, I can’t, can I?” He nudged her. “But you’re part of the team. Besides, without you I’ll have to listen to Daniel’s drunken science lectures all night.”

He focused his attention on the Stargate in front of them. How would she react if he asked her out? After she’d almost freaked out on him during their last evening together at the beach, he should let her take the initiative. 

 

***

 

Sam looked around the crowded bar and took a sip from her beer. Most soldiers were drunk already.

Last time they’d had one of these parties she’d still been a stranger to most of them. Now most were like family. She had even learned to handle the attempts at flirtation without getting awkward.

At her table, Janet raised her brows at Vala. “So, did you make up with Daniel?”

Vala shrugged. “I tried, but I think he’s still kinda mad at me.”

Sam chuckled. “Vala, you stole the vase of Amshalla from his desk and sold it on the black market behind his back. You know he loved that thing.”

Vala flinched. “Yeah, it was stupid. I did get it back, though.”

“So what about you?” Janet looked at Sam.

“What about me?”

“Well…” Janet scrunched her brows. “Are you finally going to resolve your issues with O’Neill tonight?”

Sam rolled her eyes. “There are no issues between us anymore. We’re friends.”

“Oh please.” Vala snorted. “The sexual tension between you is so thick you could cut it with a knife.” When Janet frowned at her, Vala glanced from her to Sam, then back to her. “What? It’s true. Come on, everybody’s talking about it.”

“What?” Sam stared at her and leaned forward. “Everybody’s talking about what?”

Janet cleared her throat. “You two are flirting a lot recently.”

“We’re not flirting.” She held her breath. God, people at camp were talking about her and O’Neill already?

Janet smirked. “Then there was the date that lasted almost half the night.”

“Nothing happened. We were talking about work.” At least most of the time they had. She swallowed hard.

“See, I actually believe you.” Janet sighed. “And I don’t understand it. You’d have to be blind not to realize the man has game. If he looked at me the way he looks at you, and then took me out to dinner… He’s definitely into you.”

She felt herself blush.

Janet grinned. “And you’re into him. You’ve been out together on a date, but you haven’t even tried to become more than friends.”

“It’s not that simple. And it wasn’t a date.” It wasn’t, was it? Their dinner at O’Malley’s had been very professional. They’d talked about missions and science while they ate. But later on at the beach?

Maybe it had become a date. Her stomach fluttered and an odd sense of happiness spread through her. If it had been a date, it had been a rather good one. Until she’d messed up and accused him of trying to coerce her into their marriage by advancing her career.

Sam flinched at the memory. “I don’t want to put the contract back on the table. We only agreed to ignore it on the premise that I didn’t want to have a relationship with him. If I change that now…”

Janet groaned. “You know, you’re blowing the significance of the contract completely out of proportion. O’Neill doesn’t treat you any different. On the contrary, he’s encouraging you to get into command, and he’s making sure you receive the necessary training.”

“So, what are you saying?” Sam frowned at her. “That I should be thankful?”

“No.” Janet put her glass down on the table. “Hell, no. If thankfulness were all you feel, I wouldn’t even be wasting my time talking to you about this. It’s not his fault the Aschen system’s the way it is. The way I see it, he was trying to do the right thing by signing the contract. He’s just as much a victim of it as you are, but he’

s trying to make the best out of a bad situation.”

Sam leaned back in her chair with a sigh. “Janet, this really isn’t about me being mad at him. It’s about all or nothing. I don’t want to start a relationship with him unless I’m sure it’s gonna work out. I have to know I’m not making a mistake.”

“If it’s absolute certainty you’re after, you won’t get it. No matter how long you wait. It’ll either work out or it won’t, but you’ll never know unless you try.”

Sam stared at her and swallowed hard. Damn, she couldn’t deny the truth to that statement. As long as she didn’t take the last step, her relationship with O’Neill would always be undetermined—both successful and unsuccessful at the same time. Like one of the quantum mechanics theories of an Aschen physicist she’d once read about.

If she took the first step though… What if she messed things up? She liked him and if they didn’t work out…

“You’re scared,” Janet said and emptied the last of her glass. “That won’t go away, no matter how long you wait. You as a soldier should know facing your fears is the way to go, not running away from them.” She stretched and then got up from her chair. “Your choice. I’m gonna get something stronger than beer. You girls want something?”

“Yes, get me a tequila. Double… or better yet, bring glasses and the entire bottle.” Vala grinned at her and Janet rolled her eyes. Then she looked at Sam.

“Thanks, I still have mine.”

Janet left for the bar. Sam stared at the table. Was it true? Was she really that scared? Yes she was concerned about what would happen to their professional relationship if they started dating. But scared?

Her throat constricted. How would dating him affect her position in the resistance, on his team? Would he become overprotective of her? Would he pull her out of missions? What were his expectations?

She’d never been in a serious relationship. What if she disappointed him? What if he disappointed her? What if it didn’t work out at all, and she’d be stuck in a marriage she couldn’t get out of anymore?

_Oh God, Janet’s right. I am scared._

A warm hand on her shoulder pulled her out of her thoughts. “Carter.”

Sam turned her head. O’Neill and Daniel grinned at her.

“Hey.” She smiled warmly when her gaze locked with O’Neill’s. “Where have you two been?”

“Little trouble up at camp, so we left a bit late.” O’Neill pulled one of the chairs from a neighboring table to sit down next to Sam.

“Anything serious?”

“Nah.” Daniel smirked. “Somebody stole some food from the storage tent, and Siler got into a fight with McKay over it. Jack had to step in before McKay could shoot him with the lightning gun.”

Sam’s eyes widened. She turned to stare at O’Neill, who shrugged. “Yeah, well. Just your daily dose of wackiness in the egghead camp.”

She almost choked on her beer at his statement. _Egghead_ camp?

O’Neill swallowed visibly, then cleared his throat. “Not that _you_ are an egghead. I mean… you are… but in the best possible way.”

Sam bit her lower lip when a laugh bubbled up. He was cute when he tried to save his neck, rare as the occasion was.

O’Neill smirked at her, then leaned back. “So what’ve you guys been up to?”

“Well.” Vala pulled Daniel towards her. The archeologist sighed, but ran his fingers through her hair. Apparently, he’d forgiven his girlfriend for her unauthorized sale of the vase. “Sam and Janet were just busy discussing—” When Sam glared at her and cleared her throat, Vala grinned. “—things.”

“Oh, don’t let us interrupt.” O’Neill leaned back in his chair.

“Janet went to get more drinks, sir. I think that put an end to our conversation.”

Vala’s eyes sparkled. “I think Janet’s intention wasn’t to put an end to anything, but rather to inspire the beginning of… what was it again?”

Sam’s cheeks burned. “It doesn’t matter. Can we move on please?”

Vala snickered and pulled Daniel down for a kiss.

Sam’s fingers tightened around her bottle when she felt O’Neill study her intensely. Damn, he had to suspect something was up with Vala’s insinuations. His gaze nearly burned into her. She swallowed hard and got up, leaving her half-full bottle on the table. “I’m gonna get another beer.”

“Can you grab me one too?” O’Neill’s eyes gleamed.

Nodding, Sam turned to make her way to the bar. When she returned a few minutes later with two bottles of beer in her hand and Janet following her, she’d regained her composure.

She handed one of the bottles to O’Neill. When his fingers grazed hers as he took it, his hot touch sent an electrifying buzz through her. She took a sip of cold beer as she sat down. Oh, she was in so much trouble.

They engaged in light small talk and teasing banter for a while, taunting each other about missions that had gone wrong, and telling amusing anecdotes about the adventures they’d experienced together off world.

As the evening progressed, so did the level of alcohol consumption. The atmosphere was a lot more frisky and relaxed than it had been last time. Or maybe that was just her perception because she knew everyone and didn’t feel new to the group anymore. They had become her family.

At some point, O’Neill left the table to get a new beer. Janet told some story about a man she used to date a few years back. Sam only half-listened. Janet’s words from before still floated through her thoughts. _Afraid._ Was her fear really all that kept her from taking it a step further with O’Neill? No, Jack… She turned her head, looking for him near the bar.

When she finally found him, her stomach clenched. O’Neill stood near the door, close to a red-haired woman. He smiled when she leaned up to his ear.

Sam swallowed against the sudden tightness in her throat. The woman’s long, curly hair shimmered in the dim light, her soft tan providing an intriguing contrast to the mint-green, low-cut dress she wore like a second skin. Her movements exuded a kind of sensual maturity. Damn, she was beautiful. And very feminine. Everything she herself wasn’t.

“…and you wouldn’t believe what he told me then.” Janet grinned.

Sam forced a smile. “Um, what?”

“Sam, did you even listen to me?”

She flinched. “I’m sorry.” She reached for Janet’s glass of tequila, then took a sip. The alcohol burnt its way into her stomach. Strong. Just what she needed now. Who cared about the hangover next morning?

Janet glanced at the bar and Sam followed her gaze.

O’Neill was still talking to the woman who made no secret out of her sexual interest in him. And he didn’t seem to mind her flirtations.

“Who is that?” Pain stabbed at her heart. She turned away.

Janet released a sigh and refilled her tequila glass. “Kerry Johnson.”

“You know her?”

“In a way.”

What was with the ambiguity in Janet’s statement? And why did she become so secretive? “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“He used to have an affair with her. If you can call two one-night-stands an affair.”

Janet’s words felt like a punch to the stomach. The woman was an old flame of his? Was that why he was so open to her advances? Her breath lodged in her throat. She reached for her beer and gulped some of it down.

Janet shook her head and frowned at the couple. “Kerry has quite a reputation in town. She’s only in it for the fun and so is he, usually. I’m a little surprised he’s still so into her, though.”

 _Still so into her… Great._ Sam put her bottle down and forced a smile. “Well, it doesn’t matter.” Marriage contract or not, maybe she’d misunderstood his advances towards her. Maybe he’d only flirted with her because he wanted to have fun. Or maybe he hadn’t flirted at all and she’d just misread the signals.

Janet looked at her. “I’m pretty sure O’Neill isn’t serious about her.”

“I don’t care. Can we talk about something else?” Sam flinched at the snippiness in her own voice. After all that had happened, she didn’t have a right to be snippy. She’d rejected him. Janet had warned her he’d go for another woman sooner or later.

Wasn’t this what she’d wanted? Now she’d be able to find closure and regard him as a friend. No more issues, no more marriage contract…

“Sam, what did you expect? You made clear to him you didn’t wanna have a relationship. He took you out on a date and nothing came of it. Granted, I don’t like Kerry very much, but I couldn’t blame him if he wanted to be with her tonight, all things considered.”

“I know.” Sam shifted. “It shouldn’t bother me.”

“No, it shouldn’t.” Janet leaned in and gentled her tone. “But if it does, get your ass over there now and make that clear to him.”

Sam turned again. Kerry touched Jack’s arm and said something that made him laugh. Her long, elegant neck arched as she held his gaze.

“I can’t interrupt them. That would be awkward.”

Janet released a frustrated sound. “Sam—”

Daniel and Vala rushed up to their table. “Hey guys, we managed to secure the pool table upstairs in the lounge. You wanna join us?”

“Now that’s great news.” Grinning, Janet grabbed her drink and got up. “Sam, you coming?”

Sam turned to look at O’Neill again. Jack. What if he hooked up with Kerry tonight? If she just went upstairs with the guys to play pool… What if they…? She shuddered and closed her eyes. 

“Sam.” Janet touched her shoulder.

“Yeah.” Sam smiled at her, then at Daniel and Vala. “Why don’t you go ahead and I’ll join you in a moment?”

Janet smiled and leaned in. “Good luck.” Then she straightened. “Come on guys, let’s go.”

When they were gone, Sam took a deep breath and got up. How was she supposed to do this? What should she say or do? She had no right to be possessive, and yet everything she could come up with sounded that way.

So what if Jack wanted to be with Kerry? He’d offered to ignore the contract if she wasn’t interested in him and he’d kept his promise. What if he’d decided that she wasn’t worth the hassle?

She closed her eyes. She’d actually accused him of wanting to bribe her into his bed by promoting her. God, if only she could turn back time. Biting her lower lip, she faltered in her steps. She’d make a fool out of herself if she interrupted them now. Where would an intimate relationship with Jack go anyway? As long as she hadn’t made up her mind about what she wanted, she had no right to demand he be faithful in any way.

Even if Jack hooked up with that woman, it didn’t mean anything. Janet had said whatever they had was only for fun. He didn’t have relationships. No big deal, it’d just be one night.

Sam stopped and half-turned to walk back to the stairs. It wouldn’t mean a thing if they hooked up. Or would it? What if it developed into something more serious after all? What if she lost Jack to that woman just because she was too much of a coward?

She straightened. Enough with the fear, and the insecurity. She crossed the distance and placed her hand on Jack’s arm.

“Sir.” Great way to start. She flinched inwardly.

Eyebrows raised, Jack turned. “Carter.”

“I…” Her stomach knotted, when Kerry eyed her, her hand touching Jack’s waist. Possessive. He didn’t seemed to mind. Sam lifted her gaze to his. Right, she was supposed to say something. But what? She should’ve come up with a strategy beforehand.  “Um… I…we…we have the pool table upstairs, and I thought maybe you want to…” Helplessly she looked at the stairs leading up to the lounge.

“Jack?” Kerry gave him a sparkling smile when he turned to look at her. “I was going to ask you if you want to go somewhere quieter.”

Sam’s cheeks flared. Stupid. Why the hell had she been so stupid? She shouldn’t even have tried this. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…” Why was her throat so dry? “I’ll just… Sorry.” God she had to get away. She should’ve listened to her instinct. She faked a smile. “I’m sorry I interrupted. Have fun.”

She’d already turned away to walk toward the stairs when a warm palm touched her wrist.

 

***

 

“Sam, wait a minute.”

Jack looked at her back and saw her tense up. He’d been right. She _was_ jealous. Not the outright catty and aggressive kind of jealousy other women displayed, but then again, she wasn’t like any other woman he’d ever met.

She turned hesitantly and avoided looking him in the eyes. Awkwardness. She never became awkward unless there were personal feelings involved. His heart quickened.

“Jack?” Kerry’s voice snapped him back to reality. He raised his eyebrows at her. She’d asked him a question, hadn’t she? “What do you say?”

“Say to what?”

Kerry withdrew her hand from him and folded her arms. “I asked you if you wanna take this somewhere else.”

She had? Crap. No doubt Carter’d heard that too. He scanned her face. Carter looked even more awkward than before. Jack didn’t let go of her hand when he turned to Kerry. “Not really into that anymore. I thought we were just talking.”

“Oh.” Kerry dropped her arms. Had she actually misunderstood his friendly conversation for flirtation? Damn, he’d have to be careful. “Well, if you change your mind, let me know.” Chin lifted, Kerry turned and walked over to the bar.

 _Well, that’s that then._ Jack turned back to Carter. With her flushed cheeks, she was an epitome of embarrassment. Affection flooded him.

“Sir, you didn’t have to…I didn’t mean to…If you want to be with her…”

“Sam.” He drew her closer. Her eyes widened as her gaze darted up to his. “I don’t. She and I used to…” He cleared his throat. Too much information. “We were together for two team nights a while back. It didn’t mean anything. And I have no intention of repeating it.”

She released a shaky breath. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me.”

“Don’t I?”

“No, sir. I made my position on our relationship clear and I have no right to complain when you’re interested in other women.”

“Oh for crying out loud. Sam.” He made her name a drawl and inched closer. “She isn’t the one I’m interested in. Besides, do you want to complain? If so, maybe we should talk about that.” He looked deeply into her blue eyes.

She swallowed visibly and opened her mouth as though she wanted to say something. For a long moment, she held his gaze without a word.

A slow smirk pulled across his lips. Maybe he should put her out of her misery. She’d essentially admitted she was jealous—a huge step forward for them. No need to push her for anything she wasn’t ready for. “You said something about pool?”

“Oh, yes.” Her face lit up. “Upstairs in the lounge.”

“Sounds great.”

She gave him a bright smile, and his stomach tingled. Her smile always made him feel as though the sun was rising. Jack followed her through the room toward the stairs.

The lounge upstairs was small. One side allowed for a look down into the main bar room. Couches lined the walls, now filled with teammates from camp. Daniel and Vala played a game in the middle of the room.

Sam walked over to a stool near the banister and glanced down into the bar room before she sat. Jack studied her. He strolled over to stand at the other side of the room where he exchanged a few words with Sheppard before he focused on the game.

Every now and then, he glanced up and his gaze locked with Sam’s. He swallowed hard. Her behavior tonight had been surprising, and her gentle, almost shy smiles now made his stomach flip-flop. God, could it be…?

The game ended, although he didn’t pay attention to who won. Daniel walked over to Sam, and she drew her eyes away from Jack’s. Too bad.

“Wanna play a game?” Daniel’s audible slur made Jack wince. Damn, that guy had the worst tolerance for alcohol he’d ever seen.

Carter chuckled and nodded. “Sure, why not. I have to warn you, though. My dad has a pool table in the basement, and I played with my brothers all the time when we were younger.”

Jack smirked. This ought to be interesting. Folding his arms, he leaned against the wall.

Daniel straightened. “Yeah, well, not even Vala or Jack can beat me, so…”

Oh, if only he knew. Jack chuckled.

Next to Jack, Sheppard grinned. “Woo hoo. Sounds like wagers are in order. I’m putting five coins on Jackson. No offense, Carter, but he seems to be on a winning streak.”

“None taken.” Sam smiled and took the pool cue.

Daniel pulled a silver coin out of his pocket. “Let’s make this interesting. Winner gets to keep the silver.”

“Fine by me.” Sam reached into her pocket and placed one of her own coins on the table next to his.

Jack closed his eyes. Oh, Danny boy. He’d worked with Carter for almost nine months now. He should recognize that expression in her eyes. One of the things that he valued about her was, that she never overestimated her abilities. Her self-confidence about pool said she was gonna have his ass.

“I’ll let you start.” Daniel took a step back and graciously waved at the table.

Carter grinned and leaned against the table while she chalked the cue. “See, Daniel, there’s something you forgot. Playing pool is actually all about physics.” She turned and eyed the white ball with concentration. “If you know the size of the balls, and you know where you want them…” She angled the stick carefully. “…you can actually calculate, within a reasonable margin of error, at what angle and with which velocity you have to hit the white one in order to make it do exactly what you want.”

Damn, but she could be hot talking science. Raw heat shot through Jack as he watched her bend forward. He’d been disappointed at first to find her wearing pants instead of a skirt, but now he was glad she did. No way would a skirt allow for such a nice view of her rear.

She made her shot. Three colored balls vanished into different pockets.

Daniel raised his eyebrows and pushed his glasses up on his nose. Jack chuckled and walked over to him to slap his shoulder. “Ah, you should’ve seen that one coming, Daniel.”

“Yeah, I guess I should have.” The archeologist released a tortured sigh and handed his beer over to Jack. “Hold this for me, will you? I have my honor to defend.”

Carter missed her next shot, but she didn’t have anything to worry about. Daniel was too drunk to be a match for her. Despite all of his efforts, he lost the game and a rematch after that.

When Sam picked up her silver and put it in her pocket, Jack grinned at Daniel. “You’re not gonna win against her, you know.”

“How about _you_ try then, sir?” She glanced at him, her flirtatious smile challenging him.

He chuckled. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Carter. I don’t wanna ruin your winning streak.” Her eyes flared. Hot. Sometimes, she was so predictable.

“That’s some pretty big talk.” She inched closer. “Hopefully you can back it up with action, _sir_.”

Damn, but she could be alluring when she got playful and flirty. And what a temptation to show her exactly what kind of action he wanted to give her. He narrowed his eyes and studied her. “Are you drunk?”

Sam shook her head. “No, sir. Are you?”

“Nope.” So she wanted action, huh? He took the cue she offered him, grazing her hand with his fingers.

“Oh, this should be interesting.” Vala clapped her hands and jumped up from the couch. “You two should up the stakes.”

“Any suggestions?” Jack didn’t take his eyes off Sam as he stepped into her personal space. Did she know she was playing with fire?

Vala grinned. “If you win, Sam kisses you.”

That seemed to break the spell. Carter swallowed visibly and averted her gaze to look at her friend. “Vala.”

Jack chuckled. “I like the idea. What’s the matter, Carter? I thought you were so sure of winning. Getting cold feet?”

She cocked her head at him. “Fine, sir. But if I win, you’ll have to take over my next shift of kitchen duty.”

Jack held the cue out to her. “Ladies first.”

“Oh, please.” She smiled at him while she placed the balls back on the table. “We both know I’m a soldier, not a lady. I certainly don’t need a head start.”

Jack chuckled and watched her movements. She bent over to sort the balls in the rack on the table. Her black leather pants hugged her legs and hips like a second skin, and when she leaned down, he caught a glimpse of her cleavage. He suppressed a groan.  

When he’d first met her she’d been stunning, but since then she’d changed. Everything about her was irresistible, and she didn’t even seem to be aware of her effect on the men around her. Damn, he wanted to grab her, throw her down on the damn pool table, and use it for an entirely different game.

Sam leaned forward, carefully aiming the cue. Jack’s gaze trailed down her back, and then back to her face. She’d caught him staring. Well, so what.

She bit her lower lip and hesitated for a moment. He straightened and scrunched his brows.

 

***

 

Sam swallowed hard. His darkening eyes sent pleasant shivers through her and fogged her mind.

Physics. It was all about physics. She needed to concentrate on the game. She trembled as the cue made contact with the white ball. Crap. The angle was slightly off, no doubt thanks to her lost focus. Not one ball pocketed. She closed her eyes and blew out a breath, then straightened.

“Your turn.” She looked at O’Neill from under her lashes. No doubt he’d tried to make her nervous on purpose, but two could play that game. Her fingertips grazed his hand when he took the cue. Breasts grazing his chest, she leaned in to his ear. His breath caught and she bit back a smile. Mission accomplished. “Watch the blue four.”

He held her gaze when she moved out of his way, her back against the table, her hands resting on it. Apparently unaffected by her efforts, he pocketed the first two balls.

Sam turned her full attention to the game. Damn, he was good. He stalked around the table, a dark smirk on his face.

“Blue four, left corner at the back.”

The blue four vanished into the corner pocket. Sam swallowed. That’d been a hard shot, yet he’d completed it as though it was child’s play. And he didn’t even break a sweat. At this rate, she wouldn’t even get to play one more shot.

One ball after the next shot into the pockets at the sides. When the last ball sunk, O’Neill placed the cue on the table.

Sam strolled to her stool at the banister, and looked down into the bar room. Shivers tingled down her spine when his hot breath washed down her nape.

“It’s all about physics, Carter.”

She turned, for a moment taken aback by his height and his closeness. His warm hands touched her waist and her head swam with his scent. “You know, you could’ve given me a warning about how good you were.”

Her heart pounded when his gaze dropped to her lips. “Told you I didn’t wanna ruin your winning streak.”

“Daniel said you’ve never won against him.” The warmth that radiated from him made her skin flush and her pulse race.

Jack shrugged. “Have you seen him lose? He gets whiny and competitive. It’s easier to let him win.”

Sam placed her hand against his chest, right over his heart. His skin burned hot through his shirt. “Why didn’t you let me win then?”

“You’d have my ass for it.” He lifted his hand, traced his finger along her jawline. His touch made her stomach flip flop, and her breath quickened. He leaned in to her ear. “Besides, I was after the prize.”

The prize. Right, a kiss. Heat jolted through her. Her eyes widened when he inched closer. She parted her lips and their breaths mingled.

Why was it so quiet around them all of a sudden? Her eyes shifted to the pool table. Almost every single person in the room stared at them. Oh God. Cheeks burning, she stepped back from him and leaned against the wall to look down into the bar room.

Jack straightened and scowled. Everybody went a little too quickly back to the pool table where Sheppard and Janet started a game. Sam brushed a few strands of hair behind her ear when Jack closed the distance between them again.

“Where were we?”

Her fingers touched his arm, drawing him closer. “I lost a bet. We were at the point where I pay up.”

He smirked, his eyes pooling like dark gemstones in the dim light. “I gotta admit, I kinda expected you to try and get out of it.”

“Well, sir.” Sam drew her mouth closer to his. Her stomach tingled with anticipation. His breath carried a hint of freshness. Her lips lingered close. “You never actually specified the nature of the kiss. Or the place.”

“True.” His hands trailed down her sides to the small of her back, pressing her closer. She bit her lip against a sigh. So close… His gaze intensified. “I’ll leave that little detail up to you.”

“I might opt for a kiss on the cheek.” She brushed his clean-shaven cheek with her fingers.

“Careful with the teasing, Sam.” He let out a throaty chuckle. “Two can play this game, and I’m a lot more experienced than you are.”

“More words without actions to back them up?” The phrase ‘playing with fire’ flashed through her mind.

His eyes blazed. He leaned in and his lips brushed hers. The touch jolted through her like fire that pooled in her abdomen. Breaths quickening, she jerked her head back from the touch. Smiling, he followed, but she kept their lips at an inch’s distance.

“Are you gonna pay up now?” His nose brushed hers.

Heart pounding, she leaned in and grazed her lips across his neck, right over his jugular. He groaned and nuzzled her hair. His hands moved along her waist, her hips, and then back up. Heat radiated from him. What if he pushed her up against this wall now, just like he’d done the last time they were at O’Malley’s? With a soft whimper, she pressed herself against him, her fingers clasping his shirt at his sides.

Her tongue flicked out, tasting the skin of his neck. He trembled against her, his breath washing hot against her temple. Sam grazed her lips across his throat, up to his jaw and clean-shaven cheek. She took a shaky breath.

God, how much she wanted to kiss him. She withdrew slightly, keeping his lips a hair’s breadth away from hers. Her eyes shifted up to his.

“I believe my debt to you is paid. Sir.”

Jack studied her, then his lips tugged into a slow smirk. “You just started a dangerous game.”

“You know me. I don’t back away from danger.”

“Yeah.” Fire flashed in his eyes.

Sam pressed herself against the wall behind her. Her skin buzzed with his nearness, goosebumps sneaking along her arms.

He took a step forward, pinning her against the wall. Then his lips found the spot right under her ear, and drew a hot trail along her sensitive skin. Her breath hitched as heat shot through her and almost made her legs buckle. Her fingers clutched the fabric of his shirt. She turned her head, offering more of her neck and closed her eyes.

“S-sir.” She didn’t know if she was begging for more, or for him to stop. His mouth worked its way along her jawline, then lingered close to her mouth.

Sam swallowed hard. Her body felt as though it were burning up from the inside. She needed his touch on her lips, her skin…between her legs.

O’Malley’s. They were in the middle of O’Malley’s. This kind of spontaneous interlude had gotten them in trouble before.

Sam dropped her gaze to his lips, then leaned her forehead against his chin. He placed a warm kiss just below her hairline and took a step back, releasing her. 

“I’m gonna get another beer. You want anything?” His fingers grazed hers, played with them briefly before he withdrew.

She shook her head, her voice hoarse. “No, thanks. Are you gonna come back?”

When he smiled at her, she drowned in his gaze. “Yeah, sure, ya betcha.”

She took a deep breath as he walked away. Damn, he _was_ dangerous when he tried to seduce her that openly. Maybe he’d been right when he’d said she was in way over her head.

Still dazed by his caresses, she strolled over to the couch and sat down in the corner spot. She slipped out of her heels and pulled her legs up.

Apparently, Daniel was finally winning a game. Or maybe Janet let him win. It was hard to tell. She watched without really paying attention.

A gentle nudge from the side made her turn her head.

Vala grinned at her. “You’re welcome.” Then she looked down to count some coins in her hands.

Sam raised her eyebrows. “Are you taking bets on the game?”

“Hey, I gotta make money somehow. Care to make a wager?”

“Oh, no way.” Sam chuckled. “I’ve lost enough games for tonight.”

“I wouldn’t exactly call kissing O’Neill losing, but then, that’s just me.”

“There’s that.” Sam’s cheeks heated. They hadn’t really kissed. Although kissing him probably couldn’t have left her more flustered. Thank God, it was relatively dark. She felt Vala’s gaze rest on her. “What?”

“How was it?”

Her cheeks blazed hotter. “I really don’t want to talk about it.” Damn, why was everybody always so nosy?

Vala chuckled and shifted to get up with a sparkle in her eyes. “I’m gonna collect my loot from the bets. You have fun.”

Before Sam could apologize for her curt answer, Vala was gone. Jack plopped down on the couch next to her. She swallowed and straightened. Her senses tingled with his unexpected closeness.

“Who’s winning?” He took a sip of beer.

She looked at the game. Good question. “I, um, I’m not sure.”

He gazed at her, a slow smirk tugging at his lips. Then he handed his bottle of beer over to her. Sam faltered at first, but then she took a swig.

“I think Daniel is finally ahead.” She smiled and handed his bottle back.

Jack shifted to the side, facing her, his arm resting against the back of the couch. “You could just play another game with him. Let him win.”

“Oh, please.” She gave a laugh. “Like he wouldn’t know.” She leaned her elbow on the couch back as well, her hand resting only an inch from his. If she reached out…

The game ended. She turned her head. Daniel had won, but from how Janet graciously admitted her defeat, Sam knew she’d most certainly let him win. The archeologist walked over to Vala, who drew him into a deep kiss, and then pulled him out of the room.

“Maybe we shouldn’t leave him in Vala’s care.” Jack took a sip from the bottle. “She might get them both into trouble. Again.”

“She’s a good person.” Sam inched closer.

“Have you heard, she sold one of our artifacts recently.” Jack raised his brows at her.

She nodded with a laugh. “I did. But it wasn’t any technology, and she didn’t do any real damage. She just made some money. Which, if you think about it, is pretty smart considering how badly the resistance needs it.”

Blood drained from her face. Damn, he was still her camp commander. Maybe she shouldn’t so openly endorse the insubordination of a camp member. She fidgeted under his intense gaze, then cleared her throat. “I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t mean any disrespect.”

“It’s fine. Go on.” His eyes gleamed as he leaned in. “I am intrigued by your criminal tendencies, Carter.”

She gave a soft laugh and reached for his beer. He handed it to her.

Finally, when she’d swallowed, she made herself look at him. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.” He stared at her, tensing. Sam winced. That had sounded so much less sexual in her head. “Criminal tendencies, sir?”

Throat dry, she took another sip of beer. Damn, she was bad at this. She held the bottle out to him, but didn’t let go. His fingers landed on hers.

He tightened his hold on the bottle, capturing her hand and leaning in. “You don’t wanna see mine.”

“I’ve already seen some.” She held his gaze.

“And if I remember correctly, you weren’t exactly thrilled.”

“Who ever said that?”

He gave her a slow, lopsided smile. She returned it. When he drew his eyes away from her to look at the pool table again, Sam’s heart dropped a little. She swallowed and turned her head to the game, too. She wanted to be closer to him.

Hadn’t she given him enough signals? Was she doing something wrong? There’d been so many instances that evening already where it looked like he was going to kiss her. Yet, he’d never taken the step.

What if _she_ took the initiative? After all, her hesitation had been the only thing preventing her from initiating previous kisses. But why had he withdrawn? Would he welcome her advances? How was she supposed to initiate a kiss anyway? She couldn’t just lean over and press her lips to his, least of all in front of the entire camp. Talk about starting rumors. Surely he wouldn’t appreciate that.

She almost groaned in frustration. If only she’d had more alcohol to compensate for her lack of experience. That’d worked out pretty well last time, at least when it came to lowering her inhibitions.

She shifted against the growing pressure in her abdomen, her hand dropping to her side, in between their bodies where Jack’s arm rested. Her fingers grazed his warm skin. She froze. It’d was just a casual move. So insignificant that people watching wouldn’t even have noticed. Yet his head jerked and he looked at her.

She swallowed and placed her hand on his arm, feeling the soft hair curling there. Electrifying. And he didn’t pull away from her touch. She trailed her fingers down, then cupped his hand with hers. God, if he pulled away from her now, she’d die of embarrassment.

Her cheeks burned. She’d almost lost her courage when his palm turned upwards. His fingers grazed along hers, entangling with them.

Sam held her breath and then enlaced their fingers in a tender grip. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. His callous thumb brushed across her skin, drawing lazy circles and sending a thrill through her. Sam shifted closer and leaned her head against his shoulder.

Time stopped. Neither of them said a word. The air between them slowly charged with something akin electricity that, every now and then, sent a jolt of heat through her. Their hands never stopped touching, caressing, teasing. _How is being with him suddenly so simple?_

Game after game finished and the lounge cleared as people went back to drinking downstairs. Jack never pushed for more than what she gave him.

“Alright guys, we’re gonna move back up to camp.” Janet peeked into the room. “Anybody wanna join us?”

Sam glanced at Jack’s watch. God, almost midnight. She hesitated. Leaving would mean losing his touch, his closeness. She turned her head and gave his hand a soft squeeze.

“You wanna go with them?” His voice was gentle.

“I have to. I have an experiment scheduled with McKay tomorrow morning, and it’ll take two hours to get back up to camp.”

Damn, why hadn’t she talked McKay out of the experiment? Maybe she should take a day off. That way she could stay here with him. No, impossible. Two other experiments were planned for the day after tomorrow, and the day after that she’d go on an off-world mission. She couldn’t cancel on McKay. Nor could she forego sleep.

Next to her, Jack got up, letting go of her hand. Sam’s stomach tightened. Why did she feel so empty all of a sudden? What was wrong with her?

“Come on.” He held a hand out to her, smiling.

“You can stay if you want.” The look he gave her made her wince. Of course, he could stay if he wanted. Way to state the obvious. “What I meant was you don’t have to feel obligated—”

“Sam.” He leaned down, his nose brushing her cheek. Her breath hitched when he placed a warm kiss right under her ear. He took her hand and gave her a little tug. “Come on. Let’s go home.”

Home. Warmth spread through her. How weird to think of a large group of tents in the middle of nowhere as home. It was home, though. _He_ was home.

She got up and stepped close, then cast a glance around. The lounge was almost empty. Her gaze met Jack’s, then dropped to his lips. So close. Was she ready for this? She wanted to kiss him, but what then? She inched closer. Her breasts grazed the hard planes of his chest. A shaky sigh escaped her.

He wrapped his arms around her and leaned in to bury his face in her neck. She tangled her fingers in his hair.

“Damn, Wong, I don’t know where your jacket is.” The spell broke. One of the soldiers burst into the lounge and picked up a piece of clothing in a corner. “Is this it?”

Jack let go of her and Sam took a step back at the same time. Flushed and shaky, she brushed her hand through her hair. She wasn’t keen on everybody starting rumors about her and O’Neill again.

They made their way down the stairs through the crowded bar toward the exit. Jack held it open for her and his hand grazed the small of her back as she passed him by. His fingers barely touched, yet waves of heat rolled through her.

Once outside, Sam hugged herself. The chill of the night provided a stark contrast to the warm air inside O’Malley’s. She looked around the dark, deserted marketplace. Water splashed in the fountain at its center, but other than that, the town lay quiet.

Stars sparkled above, the milky way stretching across the sky to the horizon. No aurora, she noticed with a faint sense of disappointment.

Jack stepped up behind her, his chest warm against her back. She leaned into him.

“Found a new constellation, by the way.” His deep voice reverberated against her ear.

Her breath hitched. “Oh?”

“Over there.” He pointed to the horizon. “That bright one’s Alpha Centauri. And the ones surrounding it form Centaurus.”

Sam tilted her head to the side. “What’s that one? Over to the left?”

A low sound rumbled from his throat. “Not sure.”

She wanted to say more, but before she had a chance, his mouth brushed along her neck. “Oh… God...” Her voice came out barely a whisper.

He intensified the touch, kissing and nibbling across her sensitive skin. He wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her close.

Sam bit her lower lip and a groan escaped her. She reached up behind her and buried her hand in his short, coarse hair. When he trembled against her, she turned her head, her nose brushing his cheek.

Behind them, the door to the bar opened. Jack loosened his hold on her and turned. Breathless and head swimming from his touch, Sam watched as he strolled up to the group of soldiers who would be going up to camp with them. Was he trying to drive her crazy? Then again, wasn’t she the one who had started this teasing game?

He’d been right. She _was_ in way over her head. On the other hand, the secrecy of their interlude thrilled her.

When they started walking along the road, Jack fell into a slow step next to her. He kept his distance, but occasionally his hand brushed hers in an almost-but-not-quite-accidental touch.

Did he even know what effect he had on her? He had to, at least judging by his smug expression and heated glances. Sam swallowed, restless. He made her tense, nervous, and every one of his caresses increased her need to pull him close.

It was long past midnight, when the clearing with their tents came into view in the distance. When they walked toward the line of personal tents, Jack’s hand closed around her wrist.

She nearly groaned at the touch. When she turned, his face was only inches from hers, his gaze intense.

“Good night.”

She trembled and tried to cover it up by clearing her throat. “Good night. Sir.” Sir? She bit her lower lip in confusion and released a shaky breath. What now?

God, she wanted to kiss him. But what would happen after that? She still hadn’t found a solution for how to deal with the contract. Marriage… Her stomach tightened. She wasn’t ready for such a big step. She wasn’t ready to let him go, either.

He drew her closer, and she stepped into his warmth, placed her hands against his chest. His heart beat rapidly under her touch. Her breath caught when his mouth brushed her ear. “You could come with me.”

She tensed. She wanted to. And yet, didn’t. Fear constricted her throat and she closed her eyes. Why couldn’t things be easier between them? She wasn’t ready to face the questions that would inevitably follow her agreement to his proposal. Where would they go from here?

“I can’t.” She pressed her palms against his chest. He took a step back and studied her. “I’m sorry. I’m just… This kind of heat of the moment decision didn’t turn out well last time.”

“Sam.” His fingers played with hers. “I didn’t mean sex.”

Right. Cheeks flushed, she shook her head. “Still.” The same questions would stand between them. Was she willing to date him? How would that affect their agreement about the contract? “I… I should go. You know, sleep in my own tent.”

He studied her, then nodded with a warm smile. “Alright.”

“The evening was nice, though.” Nice? She flinched. Could she sound more platonic? “I mean, great. I liked it.” She wanted to leave, but somehow her legs wouldn’t comply.

His palm brushed along her arm. “So did I.”

She eyed him, thoughtful. He deserved more than the ‘It was nice, sleep well’ routine. She wanted to give more. Hands trembling, she touched his sides and leaned in to place a kiss on his cheek. He turned his head to her at the same time.

Her lips made contact with the corners of his mouth. Okay, that didn’t go as planned. His breath caught audibly, and her pulse raced. He smelled like smoke and crisp forest air. Warmth flooded her when he didn’t attempt to deepen the kiss.

She placed her palm against his cheek and withdrew from the kiss, then brushed her thumb over his mouth. “Sleep well.”

When he responded, he sounded hoarse and a tad breathless. “Yeah. You too.”

 

***

 

Jack looked after her as she walked up the hill towards the tent she shared with Janet and Vala. Tonight they’d made incredible progress. He shifted. Damn he needed a shower. A cold one.

He’d taken a bit of a chance asking her not to leave him, though he’d expected her to decline his invitation. True, when he’d asked her, he’d imagined her writhing and moaning under him in pleasure. But even just sleeping with her in his arms tonight would have been enough.

Still, the ice between them was broken. They’d be able to move forward from now on. Happiness surged through him.

He resisted the urge to start whistling when he turned around and strolled towards the bathhouse at the edge of the forest. One cold shower probably wouldn’t suffice.


	28. Trickster

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> This version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

As Sam walked up through the grass towards her tent, she couldn’t help smiling. Her insides quivered at the memory of Jack’s caresses, his kisses, his deep voice. Tingles spread through her stomach, and she resisted the urge to hum.

Her steps slowed when Janet came trudging towards her.

“Hey.” Sam smiled at her and stopped in her tracks. Why was Janet scowling? “What happened?”

The doctor waved towards their tent. “Vala and Daniel happened.”

That had to be a joke. She dropped her arms. Really? In their tent? “Please tell me you’re kidding.”

“Nope. And from the sounds of it, it’s gonna be a while.”

Sam sighed. It was time they got their own tent. “Didn’t she promise us never to do that again? Where am I supposed to sleep?”

“I don’t know. I’m gonna sleep in the medical tent.” Janet passed by her. “Good night.”

The medical tent? Sam’s mood dropped. Sleeping in one of the uncomfortable field beds in the medical tent wasn’t the ending to this evening she’d hoped for. Her sleeping bag was so much more comfortable.

Maybe she should wait until Daniel and Vala were done. She flinched at the thought. Even if she waited, she didn’t wanna sleep in the same tent when they were together. And she could hardly throw them out.

With a frustrated sound, she turned. She’d take a shower first, and afterwards make temporary camp up in her work tent. Maybe she could build a provisional bed there.

When she reached the bathhouse, she found the door locked. Sighing, she sat down on the wooden bench in front of it. With their three-minute limit, it shouldn’t be long until she’d get her shower.

The door squeaked open, and in her haste to jump up, she nearly stumbled into Jack. He froze and raised his eyebrows at her. Apparently he hadn’t expected her. The surprise was mutual.

Her gaze dropped. He was only wearing his pants. His hair dripped, and pearly drops of water ran down his tanned neck and chest, lost themselves in his greying chest hair. His shoulders glistened wet in the soft moonlight.

Magnificent. Sam’s throat went dry. What the hell was wrong with her? And since when did she attribute words like magnificent to men? Her cheeks flared when Jack cleared his throat. Oh damn, she was staring.

She closed her eyes. “S-sorry, sir.” She hurried to step out of his way.

“Car—Sam, don’t you usually shower in the mornings after your swim?” He pulled a fresh uniform shirt over his head, covering his naked chest. Too bad.

“Yes, s-sir.” 

He raised his eyebrows again. “But?” When she didn’t answer right away, he smirked. “You weren’t waiting for me, were ya?”

Blood drained from her face. “What? No. Vala and Daniel are, uh, occupying our tent. So I can’t…” She waved toward her tent, hoping the implications of her statement were clear.

“Ah.” He stepped out of the doorway to let her pass. “Where are you gonna sleep?”

Sam stepped up into the makeshift bathhouse, then turned and leaned against the doorframe. “I thought about making a bed up in my work tent. I still have to read a paper by McKay, and besides, I have to start working early anyway.”

“That doesn’t sound very comfortable.” He flinched.

“It’s only for one night. I’ve slept more uncomfortably off-world. Besides, I won’t be able to sleep more than five or six hours anyway.”

He scratched the back of his head. “Look, Sam, you could always sleep with me.”

She could always _what_? Eyes wide, she stared at him. Had he really offered…?

Blood drained from his face and he released a low groan, his hand raking through his hair. “Wow. Okay, that sounded so much less sexual in my head.” He cleared his throat. “I didn’t mean that. I meant, you could sleep in my tent. In the corner. In a separate sleeping bag. Not…” He waved between them awkwardly with another cough.

She blew out a sigh. “Yeah.” Then she chuckled, trying to sound nonchalant. “I figured that.” Judging by the way his eyebrows climbed, they were both aware of her lie.

He had a point, though. Her science tent was a mess. She’d have to move some boxes to make space to sleep. Jack’s tent, on the other hand, was big and comfortable. It’d offer enough room for both of them. Still… Way too close to him. Her stomach flip-flopped.

“I don’t know.”

“I’ll be awake for a bit. The offer stands, so if you want, just come by after you’re done here.” He smiled, then turned and walked towards his tent. She looked after him, swallowing hard. Sleeping in his tent did sound good. Too good.

She rushed through showering. During this time of year, they didn’t spare a generator to heat the water up to a tepid temperature. Quickly, she took care of her personal hygiene and dried her skin before cold crept into her bones.

She dressed and dried her hair before she left the bathhouse. Having to rearrange her entire work tent would be a nuisance. Besides, McKay would start working around six in the morning, and that would cut her sleep very short. Jack’s tent was a viable alternative.

On the other hand… Recently, her body had begun doing all kinds of strange things as soon as she came near Jack. So maybe she should keep her distance, at least for tonight. Yes, they’d spent a great evening at O’Malley’s together. But she’d wanted to avoid questions regarding their relationship and the contract. The closer she was to him, the likelier those questions would come up. 

A few meters away from Jack’s tent, she came to a dead stop. Why the hell had she come here? Hadn’t she just decided it’d be safer to sleep in her work tent? Cold and uncomfortable…

It seemed the most logical choice to take him up on his offer. That way she’d get enough sleep and wouldn’t have to rearrange her science tent. They’d slept in the same tent together before for almost a week. Hell, they’d even shared a sleeping bag. This really wasn’t that big a deal.

She took a deep breath, then froze again. Could she trust herself enough to be this close to him tonight? After all the flirtations between them, the caresses, and the kissing outside O’Malley’s?

Science tent. Determined, she turned and walked a few steps, then stopped again. But she’d have to make space there first. Plus it’d be cold, so she’d have to get a new isolation mat and one—or preferably two—sleeping bags to keep her warm.

Wincing, Sam turned once more and walked back to Jack’s tent. They were both adults, and sleeping in the same tent didn’t mean they had to change the parameters of their relationship.

How was she supposed to announce her presence? Was she just supposed to walk in? Had his offer even been genuine? Maybe he’d only tried to be polite. _Oh, this is a stupid idea._

Releasing a frustrated sigh, she dropped her arms. The medical tent was another option. It’d be reasonably warm, she wouldn’t have to worry about cleaning, and she wouldn’t need a sleeping bag. The field beds might work for a night. Or maybe she could take a sleeping bag and just make her bed on the ground there.

Then again, the sterile smell of disinfectant that was always present in the medical tent wasn’t exactly what she wanted to wake up to.

In front of her, the tent flap rustled and Jack’s head poked out. Eyebrows raised, he smirked at her. “You gonna to pace up and down out here all night? Cause it’s kinda distracting.”

Sam closed her eyes. Damn, he’d heard her? Her cheeks warmed. “Sorry, sir.”

“You wanna come in?”

She swallowed and looked at him, then at the medical tent further up the hill.

Jack shrugged. “Of course, if you wanna pace some more…”

She tilted her head and folded her arms. He pulled the flap aside, opening the entrance. “Come on in already.”

“But I don’t want to intrude or—”

“You’re not.” His gaze intensified. When she brushed past him into the tent, her breasts grazed the hard planes of his bare chest. Tingles shot through her. Yeah, this was definitely a bad idea.

Dim light from a petroleum lamp cast the inside of his tent in a warm glow. A few of his personal items lay on a large box in the corner. Some of his civilian clothes were carelessly folded and stacked onto a makeshift shelf. Simple. She liked that.

He’d cleared out one corner and placed a rolled up isolation mat and a sleeping bag there. Had he expected she’d come by? Maybe he’d just wanted to be prepared. Warmth flooded her at his consideration. It hadn’t just been politeness.

She turned to thank him, but her breath hitched when he stood so close suddenly that she had to lift her chin to meet his eyes. Had he always been this tall? The faint scent of soap filled her nose, spicy and male. Her gaze dropped to his broad chest. So muscular. And his skin…

She reached out, grazed her fingers across his upper arms. Heat radiated from him. She held her breath when he tensed. His gaze pierced her, but he didn’t move to stop her.

Entranced, she trailed her fingers up along his biceps, then over to his chest. A shaky breath escaped her. Such silent strength. Such dominance. She wanted more of him. Like a moth drawn to a flame. Oh, what a comparison. And how very alluring to burn in his fire. Her cheeks flushed when she tangled her fingers in his chest hair. Coarse, yet soft. So hot. The texture of his skin felt rougher than her own. A fascinating difference. Her fingers trembled as she grazed them down along his firm stomach. When he caught her wrists in a strong grip, she met his gaze.

“Sam.” He leaned in, his hot breath washing against her forehead. “What are you doing?” Passion mixed with insecurity.

She inched closer. What _was_ she doing? Hadn’t she come here intending to prevent exactly this? How were things supposed to go on after this?

His dark eyes gleamed. 

Before she could rationalize again, she rose up on her toes and brushed her lips across his in a gentle touch that sent pleasant shivers down her spine. So warm, just like the rest of his body. Goosebumps danced down her arms. His grip on her wrists loosened and she touched his sides to draw him closer.

She parted her lips and flicked her tongue out, teasing, testing. Now she wished, she’d done this more often with Larek. His mouth softened, then opened. She gave his lower lip a soft nip and released a shaky breath.

Oh God, she was doing it. She was kissing Jack. Her heart pounded. No turning back now. He’d ask questions, the answers to which she didn’t have. Her stomach clenched. She pulled him hard against her with a whimper. He nipped at her lip, then flicked his warm tongue across it. Sam clutched his arms.

What now? Damn, this had been so much easier when she was drunk. Her tongue traced his lips, then darted inside.

 

***

 

Jack let out a deep groan, his hands tightening on her waist. What the hell was she doing? Raw need shot through him when her tongue stroked against his. Inexperienced, but not awkward. His brain short-circuited.

He pressed her against him and deepened the kiss. She whimpered, her hands gripping his shoulders. His hands moved along her waist, then up her sides, exploring every curve of her soft body. God, she was sweet. And she tasted even better than he remembered.  What the hell was he doing? This wasn’t right. He tensed.

They’d taken it slow, so they wouldn’t go down the same road as last time, and now she kissed him as though her life depended on it.

He withdrew his mouth from hers, but she followed and captured his lips again. He couldn’t resist and allowed contact for a brief moment. She whimpered low in her throat, a little sob dying in the kiss. Something was off about her behavior. Why was she suddenly kissing him so fervently?

He withdrew again and prevented her from following with a firm hold on her hips.

“Don’t stop…” Her voice came out barely a rasp.

Heat raced through him, and he swallowed hard. “S-sam.” His fingers dug into her hips. What if he made a mistake? What if he drove her away again? It had taken them so long to get to this point. He didn’t wanna screw it all up with a rash decision she’d regret. Maybe not tonight. But what about tomorrow?

Her eyes opened. Had they always been this blue? Her dark pupils dilated as she studied his face. But then something else flashed across her face. Insecurity. Panic. Anxiety. He’d been right.

“Sam…” He held her close without allowing their lips to touch. “What are you doing?”

“I want to kiss you. Just kiss you. Please.”

And why was he debating this again? _Hell, if a woman like Carter begs to kiss you, you don’t ask why, fool._

He groaned inwardly. He should just grab her and kiss her into a state of raw and senseless need. And then he should throw her down on his sleeping bag and see if he could shut that sweet little brain of hers off. Maybe even make her scream…

He swallowed hard. That train of thought certainly wasn’t helping.

“Carter.” His voice came out rougher than intended, the use of her last name meant to bring him back to reality where he could think straight.

Her expression changed. Panic flashed across her features. She swallowed visibly, then her cheeks flared and she tried to loosen from him.

Crap. He held her in place and gentled his voice. “I swear, my invitation for you to sleep here didn’t come with any expectations.”

“I know that.” She relaxed in his arms, her gaze dropping to his lips again.

“Maybe we should just…” He cleared his throat and looked at the free space in the corner. “…you know, go to sleep.”

“I like you.” Her breath washed warm and sweet across his chin. Her hands moved down and she fumbled to open her pants. When the garment dropped to the floor, she stepped out of her shoes and pants.

Jack swallowed hard. Black tank top and panties. And lots of skin. Wow.

His brows climbed when she hooked her fingers into the hem of his pants and pulled him toward his sleeping bag. _Oh, bad idea, Carter. Very bad._ Did she even realize how close he was to losing control?

She pulled him down with her, then scooted backwards. After she’d pushed the additional blanket and a pillow to the side, she looked at him and swallowed visibly. “I want to be with you… I think.”

 _I think?_ He groaned. He stared at her in utter fascination. _I think_ wasn’t exactly what he’d expected to hear. Her fingers reached up and trailed along his arm, trembling.

Jack leaned in, brushed his nose against hers, then captured her lips with his. Another soft whimper escaped her as she opened for him. She shifted, leaned back and pulled him on top of her. Her body trembled under his.

He’d been with enough women to recognize the difference between desire and fear—and in her case it was definitely the latter. As much as he might have otherwise appreciated her pace, he couldn’t shake the feeling he really shouldn’t give in to her haste.

He broke the kiss and studied her face. Eyes wide, she looked as though she expected him to eat her alive any moment. He suppressed at smirk, then buried his face in her neck. The soft mounds of her breasts pressed against his chest.

“You’re scared.”

Tension tightened her frame. When his eyes found hers, she bit her lower lip. Her cheeks flushed. “I don’t want my fear standing between us forever. It won’t go away. I just want to get it over with.”

Jack cleared his throat and put on a blank expression. “ _Get it over with…_ Really know how to dirty-talk, do we?”

Her eyes widened. “Oh… no, I didn’t mean…” Another swallow, then she closed her eyes and dropped her head to the pillow. “I’m sorry. That sounded horrible.”

“Kinda.” He smirked and brushed his lips against the side of her neck, then sucked her skin tenderly. She groaned and arched against him, her fingers tangling in his hair. Much better.

Her thighs brushed the sides of his waist as she drew him closer, her core hot against his arousal.

He grazed his lips along her jawline until she arched her neck and bit her lower lip. Her fingers trailed along his upper arms, caressing, teasing. Heat shot through him. Hips pressing against hers, he let her feel exactly what effect she had on him. Again, she tensed, her body trembling under his.

Damn, she was seriously frightened. Jack closed his eyes, and tried to get his physical reaction under control.

This was a bad idea. Too many firsts and uncertainties for her. Her brain was probably in overdrive, thinking out all possible worst-case scenarios. Maybe they should work out their relationship before they went this far.

That didn’t mean he couldn’t play with her a bit, though.

“I won’t sleep with you.” He nipped her earlobe, then sucked the skin right over her jugular. Her breath hitched, but she released a sigh and relaxed under him.

“Why?” Disappointment resonated in her voice.

“I’m still not entirely sure you’re sober.” He gave her a teasing smirk. A laugh bubbled up and tension fled from her body. “Besides, when we do this, I don’t want you trembling in fear. We don’t have to rush this. We can just, you know, be together.”

She studied him, then nodded. “Okay.” Breathless.

He smiled against her skin. He couldn’t stop touching her. When he shifted she he lay next to her, her legs hooked around his. 

He tipped her head up so he could look into her eyes. Still cautious about her expectations, he became serious for a moment. “You wanna sleep in your own sleeping bag tonight?”

“No. Unless you want me to.”

He tightened his grip on her before she could move out of his bed. “No way.”

“I really like you, you know.” Her gaze locked with his and he brushed her cheek with his thumb.

Without warning, her lips found his again, and she pulled him closer. Jack trailed his hands trailed up the sides of her waist. So soft and warm. He enjoyed the way her breath caught when his palms rested on her ribcage, right under her breasts. The urge to push up her top and feel her naked skin grew almost overwhelming. 

When she broke away from his kiss, her breath came fast and hot. He gave a little chuckle, panting. “You gotta stop doing that.”

Damn, he lost control fast with her. Except he couldn’t. Not tonight.

 

***

 

Heart racing, Sam shifted and stretched out next to him. So new… His chest burned against her arm, electricity humming over her skin at the touch. Jack pulled off his pants, then drew the blanket over them.

So close. And so few clothes between them. She swallowed. She wanted him, and yet the thought unsettled her so much. What if she messed up again? She should have had more alcohol to lower her inhibitions.

She cleared her throat and shifted to ease the strange pressure growing inside her.

“You all right?” Jack’s brows scrunched. She suppressed a shiver when his fingers traced along her arm, leaving goosebumps.

A shaky breath left her as he inched closer. Finally his lips took hers, first gently, then more urgent. She sighed into his mouth, and her hand brushed up his arm and ran across his shoulder, tracing a scar there.

He softened the kiss. For an eternity, he teased her without deepening the contact, even when she parted her lips, urging him on. How could he torture her without hardly touching her?

He nipped her lower lip, traced it in a teasing caress. She groaned. At last his mouth seared hers, his tongue taking, demanding. Sam’s insides liquefied. She tangled her fingers in his chest hair, brushed her palms down, along his hard stomach. How come she was suddenly so addicted to the way his tongue tangled with hers? The way he teased, a sensual game of challenge and surrender.

Giving her lower lip a tug, he finally withdrew, and her eyes closed. Not even Larek had ever kissed her like this. Sure, they’d kissed, but it had always been very controlled.

Jack smiled down at her. “Okay?”

She nodded. She cupped his cheek and traced his mouth with her thumb. 

“We should do that again.” Smiling, she leaned in and hovered her lips close to his. Jack pulled her closer.  This time, his mouth crushed hers. She groaned as painful need flared in her lower abdomen. Trying to ease the mounting pressure between her legs, she writhed her hips against his. He helped her, pressing her core against him.

His hand gently pushed her top up, then caressed her naked skin. In an almost automatic response, her body arched into his caress.

Breathless, she broke the kiss and held his gaze. He moved his hand higher, cupped her breast and flicked her nipple with his thumb.

His hot breath washed warm along her throat, then his lips tickled the side of her neck. “You like this?” His deep rasp sent quivers through her.

“Yes.” Her fingers threaded through his hair. When his thumb grazed her nipple again, Sam bit her lower lip and her eyes fluttered open. She arched into his touch, groaning. “Jack…”

 

***

 

Jack lifted his head at her pleading whisper. It was the first time in months she’d called him Jack. Not sir. Not colonel. Just Jack.

Her fingers curled around his nape. Gaze foggy, she stared at him as if surprised by her own reaction. He withdrew his hand from her breast to brush the short strands of hair away from her ear. Then he ran his tongue across her neck, pushing her onto her back.

He kissed the spot right under her ear, drawing a moan from her. He nuzzled her neck, tickling with his nose, and she fisted his hair with a soft giggle. “Jack.”

God, he wanted her. More than he’d ever wanted any woman before.

He traced the soft curve of her hips and hooked his fingers under the waistband of her panties. 

“Jack.” When she tensed, he lifted his head. He could have drowned in those deep blue eyes. And her whispering his name in that longing tone was the sweetest thing he’d ever heard.

Insecurity flashed in her eyes.

“No sex tonight.” He brushed her nose with his. “Don’t be nervous.”

“I’m not.”

Yeah, right. Smirking, he leaned in and nuzzled her neck. Her arms wrapped around him. Her scent nearly drowned him. Intoxicating. He nipped her earlobe. “Just lie back and let me make you come.”

“Yes.” She clutched his arm.

His fingers grazed her abdomen, and her muscles twitched in response.

“Let me know when I’m taking things too far.”

“Okay.”

When he moved his hand inside her panties, she scraped her nails along his skin, raising goosebumps on his arm. His fingers traced along her hot center, and she gripped his wrist.

Maybe he’d have to get her to stop thinking first. He leaned down and captured her lips in a deep kiss, his fingers stroking through her folds at the same time.

She broke away from him with a gasp. “Oh… God.”

Jack leaned in again, tracing the freckles on her neck with his tongue. “Just say the word and I’ll stop, Sam.”

She shook her head. “No, please don’t.”

Taking her mouth with his, he moved his hand down her inner thigh. She giggled softly with a shudder. He smiled against her lips, then slid his hand back between her legs. 

Her breath lodged and her eyes widened as the pad of his thumb brushed over her clit. He read total abandon in them. _Now we’re getting somewhere._

He repeated the caress, slower, more controlled, before he trailed his finger up along one side and down the other. Her groan was the sexiest sound he’d ever heard from a woman.

He withdrew his hand and moved it up to her lips. Touching his index finger to them, he brushed his nose against hers. Almost instantly, she opened her mouth, her tongue darting out, wetting his finger. Raw need raced through him.

“God, Sam.” He pressed his lips against her temple, struggling for control. Oh yeah, her scientific curiosity definitely extended into the bedroom.

He trailed his hand back down to her folds and found her little bundle of nerves. His fingers, moistened from her tongue, slid over the nub with ease. She gave a breathless whimper, her eyes widening.

Jack chuckled against her hair and did it again, watching the way her lips parted. Her hips writhed against his hand, following his movements. As she stared up at him, her eyes glossed over with need, while her fingers explored his skin aimlessly, touching him wherever she could. He increased the pressure on her clit, and she jerked against him.

“You’re so beautiful.”

No doubt, he was gonna make her come. Her arousal came so easy, so fast. So stunning. He hardened almost painfully.

God, he’d need another cold shower after this.

 

***

 

Sam held his gaze. His chestnut brown eyes darkened until they looked almost black. Pleasure raced through her every fiber, pressure coiling between her legs. She pushed up against him, her fingers digging into his shoulder. So good. She wanted more.

His fingers drifted lower, teasing her entrance. Oh, God. Sam swallowed and went rigid against him.

“I won’t hurt you.” He kissed her deeply, swallowing her desperate moan. “Trust me.”

“I do.” She clutched his wrist, her body trembling as she forced herself to relax. Seriously, why hadn’t she had more beer? This would be so much easier. Her tension eased away when his tongue brushed over hers. She gave a soft yelp when one of his fingers slid into her, his movement slow and tentative.

Her lips parted, her fingers burying in his hair. No man had ever touched her this intimately. And God, when the tension left her limbs and her initial discomfort eased away, sheer pleasure rolled over her like a wave.

She panted, and his body trembled against hers.

“Want me to stop?” He kept his lips so close their breaths mingled.

“No. Oh God… oh… please don’t…”

His finger slid further inside her, while his lips brushed along her throat, his breath hot against her skin. Her body became hyper-aware of him. His palm brushed her clit and shockwaves of ecstasy rocked through her.

Oxygen suddenly became an issue. The tent spun in front of her eyes. Too much. The fire in her belly turned almost painful. This couldn’t be right. Too much heat. Too fast a heart rate. She clutched his wrist, wanting to pull his hand away from her, but her body disobeyed. Instead, she pressed him closer.

“Wait.” She arched her neck.

He eased up ever so slightly. “Don’t think, just feel.”

She fisted her hands against his shoulders. Wasn’t she being too loud? What if the rest of camp heard her? She gritted her teeth against another groan, then turned her head toward his chest. Her nose grazed his collarbone, and she inhaled his scent.

He leaned down and trailed a moist path along her throat, over her jugular and along her shoulders, then down to her breasts. When his lips locked on one of her nipples through the fabric of her top, something in her brain short-circuited. Somewhere in the back of her mind she realized the voice begging him for things entirely beyond understanding was hers, but who cared? Every one of his strokes seemed too much, yet none was nearly enough.

“Let go, Sam. Let me see you come.”

She opened her eyes. When had she even closed them?

Heat boiled through her, and her body shook against him. Her muscles clenched around his finger. She caught her breath. More. She needed more. She buried her face against his shoulder. Pressure built… built some more…

Then hot pleasure exploded in waves through her body, leaving her breathless, dizzy and on the brink of unconsciousness. She clutched his shoulders, held on to him as though he were her lifeline, the only thing in the world that kept her from shattering.

When she came down from the high, he nuzzled her neck. He gave her occasional teasing strokes, and she jerked against him with every touch. The contact suddenly bordered on pain, even though he’d softened his touch.

When he withdrew his hand, he lifted his head. She looked at him through half-closed eyes.

Exhaustion spread through her and made her limbs feel heavy. Like she’d just run a course through the forest. Her heart pounded as though it were about to jump out of her chest. Odd relief and satisfaction spread through her. Never before had she felt like this. Her brain seemed to take a moment to rebuild burnt-out pathways.

Jack leaned down, brushed his mouth against hers. Sighing, she parted her lips for his seeking tongue. His thumb touched her chin, then he withdrew from the kiss to graze his finger against her lips.

Almost on instinct, Sam flicked her tongue out, licking his finger. A weird mixture of salty and sweet. God, she tasted herself. New heat shot through her, and she sucked his finger into her mouth. Then his lips were on hers. Her cheeks warmed. God, he had to taste her on her lips. They groaned in unison.

An eternity passed, then Jack broke the kiss and propped himself up on his elbow next to her. He looked heated.

She turned toward him and caressed his chest with her fingers while she held his gaze. “Wow.”

He smirked. “Anybody ever told you how hot you are?”

She stifled a chuckle against his shoulder.

“For the record.” His deep voice reverberated against her neck. “I really like you, too.”

She buried her face in his neck. “I can’t believe we just did that.”

He teased the shell of her ear with his tongue. “Well, you didn’t lose any clothing. We stayed within the agreed-upon parameters.”

He actually sounded somewhat smug. She opened her eyes and scraped her fingers through his hair. When he buried his face in her hair and inhaled, is chest rose and fell against hers.

She shifted to her side and dropped her gaze to his tanned neck. How often she had fantasized about tasting his skin… She leaned in, and flicked her tongue out.

Spicy and _so_ him—much better than any of her fantasies. She pressed her mouth to his pulse point and sucked. A low growl rumbled from him. Encouraged by his reaction, she draped her leg over his hip, bringing her pelvis into contact with his.

His arousal brushed against her abdomen and he trembled, pulling her closer. Her breath hitched. Pride surged through her, then a thrill. _She_ did this…

She’d never known she could have such an effect on a man.

His warm palm ran down her bare leg, then back up. A low groan reverberated in his throat when her lips trailed down his neck to his collarbone. She dragged her nails along the sides of his body, then over his abdomen.

His eyes shot open and he grabbed her wrist in a steel-like grip. “Sam.” Definitely a warning. Eyes wide, she looked up at him. He shifted out of her embrace, and sat up. 

“Jack.” Damn, why did she sound so breathless?

He tangled his hand in her hair and pressed a warm kiss to her forehead, then got up on his feet.

Sam leaned up on her arms and studied him. Grabbing clothes, towels… What the hell was he doing? Her stomach tightened. Had she done something wrong?

“What are you doing?”

“I’ll be right back.” He flinched. “I really need another cold shower.”

Shower? Why? She stared at him. Then her eyes dropped down his body and her cheeks flared. “Oh.” Really? Cold showers helped against that? She attempted a cheeky smile. “You could just, you know… We could...” Okay, so much for her attempt at being sly. She sighed.

“No.” He shook his head. “Not tonight. I promised.”

Sam dropped her hands to her lap.

His gaze intensified. “But God, how much I’d love to. I’ll be right back. Don’t leave. And don’t change. Or move. At all.” His eyes twinkled. She giggled, warmth spreading through her as he left the tent.

When he was gone, she pulled her knees to her chest, and rubbed her palms against her heated cheeks. Had she really just allowed him to touch her so intimately? It hadn’t even been difficult to take that step. And definitely not as scary as she’d expected.

She looked around. If they wanted to sleep together tonight and be halfway comfortable, they’d need more than one sleeping bag. Her gaze stopped at the empty corner. Just what she needed…

Cold air made her shiver when she threw the blanket aside and crawled over to get the second isolation mat and sleeping bag. Technically, she should be able to connect them.

She unfolded the mat and placed it so it was lying seamlessly next to the first. Then she opened the spare sleeping bag and zipped it to Jack’s. Perfect. One large, comfortable bed that held enough room for both of them.

Shivering, she snuggled into the warm coziness of the bed. Then she froze. Was she taking things too far? Maybe she shouldn’t have changed his sleeping place like that without asking him first. Then again, he couldn’t honestly want them to sleep in the tight confinement of just one sleeping bag.

The tent flap rustled and Jack entered. He zipped the entrance shut. After he had turned, his eyebrows rose and a smirk tugged at his lips. “Nice.”

She released a breath she hadn’t even known she’d been holding. When he slid into the sleeping bag next to her and zipped it shut,

she scooted closer and snuggled up against him. Her legs brushed his and a shiver danced down her spine. “You’re cold.”

He wrapped his arms around her and chuckled into her hair. “Shower.”

She glanced up at him. “It wasn’t necessary to lower your body temperature by ten degrees.”

“Oh, believe me, it was.” Then he waved his hand around. “Is this gonna be okay for you?”

“I wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t.”

“Okay.” He cleared his throat and pressed a kiss against her forehead. Then she heard him take a deep breath. “Is this gonna be just for tonight?”

There it was. The dreaded moment where they’d have to talk about how to proceed from here. She should have thought about the consequences of her reckless seduction. What now? She wanted him. Longer than just one night. But marriage? Her throat constricted.

Jack pulled back and looked at her, the question still hanging between them.

She bit her lower lip. “I don’t want it to be.”

The tension in his shoulders lessened slighty. “But?”

“I don’t know. There’s the marriage contract, and I really don’t want...I can’t…” How the hell was she supposed to explain this? Why was this even an issue? She wanted to be with him, so why did she hesitate?

Lying here with him felt so right, but as soon as she thought about their relationship… He was her husband by law. Blood rushed in her ears as cold fear gripped her heart. He was a good man. He was considerate, kind… hot. So why couldn’t she just accept this contract? There was nothing to it. It was just a marriage.

Maybe she’d just have to learn to deal with it.

 

***

 

Jack studied her. He could practically see her wheels turn. That damn contract. If only he’d never signed it. He should have insisted on getting to know her first.

She opened her mouth as though to say something, then hesitated and studied him.

No doubt, she wasn’t ready for marriage. Could he blame her, really? Hell, he didn’t know if _he_ was ready. It was a huge jump from kissing for the first time to being married.

Why in the world did that even have to be an issue? They weren’t in an Aschen breeding facility, and they had another year until the Aschen Ministry would expect results. Why not take it slow? She needed time, so what on Earth prevented them from taking just that?

Why had they even spent so much time hurting each other and arguing?

“Sam.” She looked up. He brushed his thumb across her cheek. “Just forget about the contract.”

“What?” She gave him a confused look.

“Forget about the damn thing. Apparently it’s the only thing standing between us. It’s just a signature on a piece of paper.”

She stared at him, eyes wide. “But you wanted… You said you didn’t want it to be just a signature. I don’t understand.”

“What I wanted was to give _us_ a chance, not some stupid contract.” He flinched. Yeah, okay, maybe his wording hadn’t exactly expressed that. “I guess I should have made myself clearer.”

Sam flinched. “Well, I wasn’t exactly receptive to your explanations at the time.”

He gave her a blank look. “You were a bit hot-tempered.”

She leaned up on her forearm, smiling. “Maybe I would have been more inclined to talk about it if you hadn’t behaved like…”

An ass? A jerk? A bastard? Jack flinched.

She cleared her throat, then cupped his cheek with her palm. “We both could have handled the situation better, I guess.”

“Yeah.” Jack tangled his hand in her hair, warmth filling him when she leaned into his touch.

“So what now?” She gave him a cautious look.

His lips tugged into a smile. “Date me. Give me a chance to win you over the way I should’ve done that night in the bar. Correct that, the way I should’ve done before signing any marriage contract. We’ll just take it step by step.”

“And if it doesn’t go well?”

He held her gaze. “I won’t insist on the contract.” His heart melted at the smile that brightened her face.

“I would really like to date you.”

Dating Carter… His heart skipped a beat. Her hand ran through his hair, then she leaned in and kissed him. Her tongue darted out and flicked over his. His breath caught.

He withdrew from the kiss. Now what? He hadn’t had many real relationships. None that had worked out, at least. “I won’t cut you any slack just because we’re dating. I’ll still order you around when we’re on duty and expect you to follow those orders to the letter without discussion.”

He’d never dated a woman under his command. Worse, on his own team. There wasn’t really a rule against it, but he didn’t wanna stir up rumors about Carter receiving preferential treatment. On the other hand, she’d long established her position at camp. People knew she was a brilliant scientist. 

There was no doubt she deserved the spot on SG-1. So maybe he worried over nothing. Even if it came down to it, he could still assign her to another team.

“I’m fine with you ordering me around.” The tip of her nose grazed his. “I’ll follow your orders like I did before. But I won’t accept you ordering me around when we’re off duty.” She faltered for a moment, then a blush tinted her cheeks. “Well, maybe with exceptions. You’re sexy when you get into command mode.”

He coughed at her statement. Images of her taking orders in an erotic context flashed through his mind, and it became hard for him to breathe. “Did you just tell me one of your kinks?”

She cleared her throat and her blush intensified. _Sweet._

Jack grinned. “Well, I’ll keep that in mind for future reference.”

“Please do.” Smiling, she leaned in to nip his earlobe. “ _Sir_.”

God, that woman. She really liked playing with fire, didn’t she? Groaning, he pushed her to her back and claimed her mouth in a heated, but short kiss. Her hands played at his waist, then her fingers slipped under the waistband of his pants. Fire blazed through him.

Growling, he broke the kiss. “Keep that up, and I’ll be forced to take another cold shower.”

When she gave a soft giggle, he wrapped his arms around her slender waist, and she snuggled up to him.

The lazy circles her fingers drew on his back lulled his mind into sated relaxation. He turned to lie on his back, so Sam could place her head on his shoulder.

Memories of polar night flooded his thoughts. How good she’d felt sleeping against him…her soft curves melting against his body, fitting him perfectly. At last, they were at a point where they could have a future.

Happiness spread through him as his eyes drifted shut. His hand brushed through her hair. She was his.

 

***

 

_Eat up. All of it._

 

Sam blinked twice, then read the note again. So him. Short, efficient, no overly romantic language. Yet the simple gesture spoke for itself.

She glanced at the small tray holding a bowl of fruit and a packed sandwich. Breakfast. Leaning on her forearms, she reached for one of the grapes. It was a double portion of fruit, which meant that he had given her his share. Warmth spread through her.

She savored the fresh taste of the grape, closed her eyes and turned onto her back. Her body tingled at the memory of last night. How he’d seduced her and taken care of her needs without asking anything in return. Instead of taking a cold shower, he could have just taken her. Surely, most other guys would have. She wouldn’t have denied him, and he had to have known that. Yet, he’d kept his word.

 _He’s a good man._ The words her father had once used echoed in her thoughts. He’d been right. Jack was a good man.

She smiled as she turned her head. Her gaze fell on the small clock standing on a wooden box next to the sleeping bag.

_10.00am._

“Oh, damn.” The experiment with McKay. They wanted to start at eleven, but it took a while to set it up. McKay wouldn’t be happy he had to do all the work alone. She threw the blanket aside and gathered her clothes from the ground. Why hadn’t anybody come to wake her?

On her way to the bathroom, she greeted some of the soldiers coming towards her. As she turned her head to look down where the forest began, she stopped. Daniel and Vala. Arm in arm, the archeologist whispered something in his girlfriend’s ear that made her giggle.

“Hey, Sammie.” Vala grinned, as they reached her.

“Hey, Vala. Daniel. Did you two sleep well?”

Daniel’s face became serious. Okay, so he had probably heard the accusation in her voice. “Um… yeah, wonderful. You?”

“Very well. Which is the only reason I’m not mad at you for last night.”

“Um.” Vala’s smile weakened. “What happened last night?” She glanced at Daniel. “Did we do something embarrassing?”

The archeologist shook his head. “No, not that I know of. For once.”

“You occupied our tent again. Vala, we talked about this.” As Daniel and Vala stared at each other blankly, Sam faltered. They looked as though they didn’t have a clue what she was talking about. She folded her arms. “Janet and I had to find different sleeping accommodations.”

“Um.” Daniel scratched his head. “Sam, we weren’t even at camp.”

“What?”

Vala chuckled. “Daniel and I rented a room at O’Malley’s. We only came back this morning after sunrise.”

She stared at them. “But when I wanted to get into our tent to sleep, Janet said…” Janet. A suspicion dawned on her. She narrowed her eyes and turned toward the medical tent. Janet was just stepping outside. Perfect timing.

She marched up to the tent, Daniel and Vala following suit.

“Janet!”

The doctor lifted her head, then smiled brightly. “Sam.”

“You wouldn’t believe what I just heard.”

Janet’s eyes gleamed. “Yeah, well, you wouldn’t believe the rumors _I_ just heard. Apparently somebody spent the entire night in the camp commander’s tent.”

Cheeks warming, Sam cleared her throat. Couldn’t anything remain a secret with these people? How did Janet even know? “Yes, well, that only happened because _somebody_ told me Daniel and Vala were in our tent. Which they weren’t…”  

Janet smirked. “Whoops.”

“I can’t believe you. Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?” Sam folded her arms.

“Okay, let me get this straight.” Daniel loosened from Vala and took a step towards her. “You went to sleep in Jack’s tent because Janet told you that Vala and I were…”

“Yes.” A self-satisfied smile played across Janet’s face. Then she looked at Sam and sighed. “All right, I’ll apologize. _If_ nothing happened between you and O’Neill.”

Sam felt her blush deepen. She fidgeted and opened her mouth, then closed it again. Lying wasn’t necessary, but she hated the thought of everybody gossiping about them.  Especially when it was all so new.

Janet gave a triumphant laugh. “I knew it. After how you were looking at each other all evening, I figured all you needed was a little push in the right direction.”

“Seriously?” Daniel stared at Sam. “You and Jack?”

“Yes. Will you guys stop already?”

Vala grinned. “Wow. So Janet tricked you into sharing a tent with O’Neill, and it actually worked out? Cunning. I like that.” She eyed Janet with a hint of approval. “I’ve taught you well.”

Janet rolled her eyes. “I just took a chance. I’d hoped you and Jack would run into each other again, which, apparently, you did.” The doctor folded her arms. “Now that this is taken care of, we can all concentrate on our work again. And stop taking bets.” She frowned at Vala.

In disbelief Sam turned to her friend. “Bets?”

Vala flinched and gave her a guilty grin.

“Oh my God. You were making money off my relationship with O’Neill?”

“No. Absolutely not.” Vala shook her head, then swallowed visibly. “I was making money off your lack of a relationship with O’Neill.” She held Sam’s gaze, then sighed. “Fine. We’ll split the gain. You’ll get, let’s say, twenty percent?”

“Okay, Vala.” Daniel placed his hands on Vala’s shoulders and turned her to face him. “Remember what we talked about yesterday? About treating friends with respect? Not stealing artifacts from them? Or making inappropriate bets?”

“Well, what do you expect me to do if you won’t at least let me keep some of the loot we bring back from other planets.”

Daniel gave an exasperated sigh and rolled his eyes. “For the last time, it’s not loot. They’re artifacts. Valuable witnesses of another time.”

“Okay, fine.” Vala almost pouted. “I’ll give the money back.”

Daniel cleared his throat, his eyes shifting between Vala and Janet. “You two better hope Jack doesn’t find out about this. You know how he feels about people meddling in his affairs. Or making inappropriate bets.”

“This can stay between us.” Sam folded her arms. “But from now on, if somebody meddles in my business, I’ll walk right up there to McKay’s tent and borrow the lightening gun from him. Understood?”

Janet and Vala nodded.

Later on in her work tent, when Sam remembered their guilty looks, she had to smile. She couldn’t really be mad at either of them. Vala was just being…well, Vala. And Janet had tried to help. Quite successfully. If her friend hadn’t lied about her tent not being available, she’d never have gone to sleep in Jack’s tent. She’d never have kissed him.

Her skin buzzed at the memory of his warm palms trailing over her bare skin, cupping her breasts. Heat shot through her.

She looked up from the report she was supposed to be writing, and picked up the little piece of technology she’d just finished analyzing. Why was it so hard for her to concentrate all of a sudden? Especially when her thoughts returned to his touch, his kisses. His crooked smile.

The tent flap rustled. Sam looked up. There he was, giving her that same crooked smile she’d just fantasized about. Her insides liquefied.

“Hi.” He strolled closer, hands in his pockets.

“Hi…sir.” Did she really sound a hint breathless, or was that just her imagination? She held his gaze.

“How are you?” He looked around her desk, then touched one of the larger artifacts standing on her table.

God, he looked even better this morning. “Good.”

“Sleep well?”

“Yes. Very. Thank you for breakfast.”

“Think nothing of it.” His gaze intensified, then he cleared his throat. “So, if you want, you know… you could sleep in my tent again tonight... You don’t have to, but—”

“I’d like that.” Tingles fluttered in her stomach at the heated expression in his eyes. “A lot.”

For a long moment, they smiled at each other, then Jack shifted.

“Well, I actually have a meeting with SG-4 which starts in—” He looked down at his watch, then tapped it with his fingers as if trying to see if it was working right. “Three minutes ago.”

“Oh.” She straightened and raised her eyebrows. “Shouldn’t you be…?”

“Yeah. I just wanted to see how you’re doing.”

Affection flooded her. He really cared about her. It took a moment before he drew his eyes away from hers. 

“Alright then, I’ll see you tonight?”

“Tonight.” She nodded with a smile.

When he’d left the tent, she took a shaky breath. Why did she suddenly feel so self-aware around him? And why did her body do all kinds of weird things now they were officially dating?

 

***

 

Jack tried to be as quiet as possible when he approached the sleeping bag. Damn, going through the mission report from SG-4 and filing everything had taken much longer than he’d wanted. It was past midnight.

Sam lay in his sleeping bag, curled up with her eyes closed and fast asleep. Warmth flooded him and he smiled.

Quickly, he undressed and then slid into their large bed. Her skin burned against his, and need shot through him. He couldn’t remember ever having want a woman as badly as he wanted her.

Her head jerked up, her short hair delightfully tousled as she looked at him, temporarily alert.

“Shh.” Jack placed a warm kiss under her ear. Her self-defense mode was undoubtedly the result of her training. Not to mention she’d probably never shared a bed with someone before.

Foggily, she stared at his face, then gave a satisfied hum and snuggled up to him.  Her head on his shoulder, she drew a few lazy circles on his chest with her hand, then sagged back against him. He smirked and zipped up the sleeping bag to keep in the warmth.

Amazing, how fast one adapted to a situation. How had he ever slept without her beside him? After only one night, he was already addicted to falling asleep in her warmth, her scent, her body curling into his.

He wrapped his arms around her and closed his eyes, burying his face in her hair. They’d take a bit of time off soon. Maybe a day or two. He wanted to make love to her, but not when they were pressed for time or her mind was busy with one of her experiments.

Once things calmed down a little, he’d take her up to his cabin for a little vacation. Soon.

Very soon.


	29. Ba'al

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> Also, this version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

“Daniel.”

“Jack?” The archeologist looked up from his notes, eyebrows raised. As though he didn’t know exactly what was up.

“Time’s up. Pack up all this stuff.” Jack waved around with his P-90, indicating the mess of notes, pictures and books on the grass next to the group of pillars with inscriptions Daniel’d spent the last six hours analyzing.

“Jack, I don’t think you understand the meaning of this. _This_ is our first real clue to the Ancients. These inscriptions, they speak of a—”

“Ah.” Jack frowned at him. “Daniel, I’m not in the mood for a discussion. Pack up, we can come back here later. Until then, you can analyze the stuff you already copied. Which looks like a lot.”

Daniel opened his mouth, undoubtedly to contradict him again, and Jack scowled. “We’ve been here for over six hours. The trip back to the gate’s gonna take at least three. So pack up.”

The archeologist folded his arms and narrowed his eyes. “You know, sometimes I wonder if you do this just to annoy me. We can take the window back in another six hours, you could just radio camp that—”

“Daniel.”

“No, Jack, don’t you see? This could be the key. This wall speaks of technology, a ship that’s beyond anything we’ve ever seen before. And it’s supposed to be here.”

“You’re defying a direct order.”

“I suppose I am.” Daniel straightened and glared at him. Well, this was new. “Come on, Jack. You could return and just leave me and Sam here. We’ve been on this planet before. There’s nothing here to warrant full armed security.”

Jack turned impatiently. “Carter!”

Twenty meters away, Sam jumped up and looked at him, then came trudging over.

“Pack up, we’re gonna leave.”

“What? No, sir.”

Jack’s brows climbed. “ _No, sir_?”

She paled and swallowed visibly. “With all due respect…sir.”

Jack smirked inwardly. One of these days he’d have to teach her that adding _sir_ or _with all due respect_ didn’t nullify insubordination. “Wasn’t I still in charge last time I checked?” He looked from her to Daniel, then back to her.

“Sir.” Her voice was small. “I just managed to access a hidden panel in the inscription wall. If I can connect that to our computers and bypass—”

“Oh, for crying out loud.” Jack frowned at her, and she fell silent. “We’ll come back. There’s no way I’m leaving you two out here on your own to study these damn rocks. So let’s all go back and gather a science team. You can return, and spend days out here if you want.” He scowled at them. “And in case you confuse this for an optional request, let me clarify. It’s not.”

Sam’s shoulders slumped. “Yes, sir.” Then she turned to pack up. Well, at least somebody still remembered the command structure.

“Jack.” Daniel still looked unwilling to follow his order. “You know as well as I do, it’s not a priority for us to send a science team back here to investigate. Even if we had the resources. As it is, it might take months before we can return, and who knows if this will still be here then.”

“Listen, Daniel.” Jack rubbed his temples. “Maybe we’ve gotten a bit off course lately. Understandable, with our efforts at finding information about the Ancients. But in case you’ve forgotten, our mission is not to explore and study every rock we find. We need to find allies and technology. I see neither of those things here. Do you?”

Damn, he’d had a headache ever since they’d stepped through the gate this morning, and the boredom of the past few hours had only added to it.  

“Jack, what’s six more hours?” Daniel sighed. “The next team isn’t scheduled to leave until tomorrow, so we wouldn’t even be delaying anything.”

“For what purpose?”

“If that ship’s still here, and we can find it, you would get the technology you’re searching for.”

“ _If_ that ship is out there?” Jack frowned. “You know, _if_ is exactly what we can’t keep wasting our time on.”

Daniel rolled his eyes. God, he was getting ready to throw another argument at him, wasn’t he? At this rate, they’d spend the next six hours standing here discussing this.

“Fine.” His mood dropped. Why did he even bother trying to reason with Daniel? Though, if they actually found the technology he described, that might be worth a second look.  “Six more hours. But if you haven’t found it by then, we’re leaving.”

He turned and marched over to Sam. She organized her doohickeys and carefully placed them in transportation boxes. “Carter.” Her head snapped up at his voice. “Unpack again.”

Her beaming smile made his stomach flip-flopped. Now, if he’d known he’d get this reaction, Daniel wouldn’t even have needed to waste his breath on an argument.

He smirked. “Don’t get too carried away. In six hours we’ll leave. No discussion.”

 

***

 

Heart pounding, Sam watched as Jack trudged away from them towards the forest in the distance.

“Sir!” He turned. “Where are you going?”

“Back to the gate. Somebody’s gotta inform camp before they declare us missing.”

She straightened. “That’s a three hour walk at least.”

“Yeah, well, at least it’ll give me something to do. You just keep an eye on each other.” He winked at her.

“Understood, sir. Have fun.”

Grinning, he turned his back to her. “Yeah, sure, ya betcha. And you, knock yourself out. Go bonkers with your, um, little doohickeys.”

She focused her attention back on her computer. It had only been a couple of days since they’d decided to try dating. So far, it seemed to be going so well. Nothing had really changed in their working relationship, except he seemed to be smiling at her a lot more, cracking jokes and trying to make her laugh.

She loved sharing his bed at night, even though they hadn’t slept together yet. Last night, when his kisses had turned heated, she’d definitely wanted to take the next step.

His consideration melted her heart. If only she knew how to tell him she wanted to take it further.

She took out the device she’d just packed and reconnected all the cables to the circuits on the pillar.

Hours or minutes passed by. She wasn’t sure, but when she heard steps behind her, she knew it couldn’t have been five hours yet.

“Well, you were fast.” She turned, smiling, expecting Jack.

Her heart stopped. A Jaffa warrior stood before her, almost a head taller than her. Sam reached for her weapon.

Too late. She gritted her teeth against a scream when the discharge of a lightening gun hit her. Then all went black.

 

***

 

“Ugh.” Groaning, Sam turned over on the cold floor. Every bone in her body ached, the movement shooting thousands of needles up her spine. “Oh, God.”

“Sleep well?”

Jack. She fought to lift herself up and looked around. Jack sat on a golden bench set into the wall. The room was small, the walls solid. Pictograms were carved into the golden material all around them. The architecture rang a bell. She’d read about this in one of the older resistance reports. A Goa’uld prison cell…

Her legs shook as she lifted herself to her feet.

Jack leaned his head against the wall. “For the record, next time I give the order to leave, I’ll shoot whoever even thinks about contradicting.”

“What happened?” She closed her eyes against a stinging headache and ran her fingers across her forehead. Just to make sure she didn’t have a severe head injury.

“They surprised me as I was walking back to the gate.” He sat up. “I take it same thing happened to you?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “I didn’t even hear them approach until they were right behind me.” Damn, she’d let her guard down. They’d been on an alien planet, and when she’d heard the steps behind her, she hadn’t even for a moment assumed it might be a hostile.

Jack growled. “Luckily, this time they seem to be more interested in taking prisoners than normally, judging by the fact that we’re still alive.”

Sam stumbled over to the door and placed her palms against the golden wall next to it. Then she reached down to her hip for her knife. Nothing… Gun? Nothing. “Sir, they took my weapons.”

“Yeah.” He gave her a blank look. “I noticed that.”

She flinched. Stating the obvious had always rubbed him the wrong way. She looked at Daniel, who stirred, then back to the door. No handle, which meant it was controlled by some kind of circuit.

“Won’t open.” Jack’s voice interrupted her attempts. “I already tried it.”

“Well.” Sam scanned the wall carefully. “I assume they don’t open a door like this by hand. There must be a control panel somewhere in the wall to trigger the opening mechanism.” She felt along the wall, then came across a little panel that stuck out. “I need something to open this.”

“They took everything.” Jack leaned forward.

She looked around for a moment, then down at her feet. Maybe they hadn’t… She reached down to her ankle, and her face lit up. “No, they didn’t.” With a grin, she unsheathed the knife she carried at her ankle.

Jack’s eyes widened. “Backup knife?”

“Always be prepared for the unexpected.” She threw the words he’d used during training back at him.

Jack smirked then jumped to his feet. “You go, girl.”

The knife slid off the corner of the panel. Damn. Sam winced. The blade was too thick. She’d have to be more careful.

Daniel groaned. “What the hell happened?”

“Some Goa’uld caught us. Carter’s trying to get us out.”

Sam narrowed her eyes. The metal paneling came loose, then opened. Crystals blinked behind it. “If I can gain access to the door control and short-circuit—”

“Don’t you think it’s a bit more complicated than that?” Daniel asked, groaning as he sat up. Sam turned her head and scowled at him. “Come on.” The archeologist sighed. “This is a prison. How effective would it be if we could just open the wall on the inside and bypass the door-circuit?”

“He’s got a point, you know.” Jack grimaced.

“Yeah, well.” She carefully put the panel down on the ground. Heavy. Probably made of real gold. Unlike Earth, most planets in the galaxy had an abundance of the metal. “It doesn’t hurt to try. Maybe they underestimate our intelligence. Most species we’ve encountered so far weren’t even close to our technological level.”

She touched one of the crystals. Stinging pain jolted through her wrists, and little sparks shot off the circuit. She flinched against the pain. “Damn, I wish I knew more about Goa’uld technology. I have no clue what I’m doing.”

She reached into the small opening. If she only touched the top of the crystal, she should be fine. Maybe she could pull it out, see what happened. She tried to loosen it, to no avail.

The door next to her opened with a whizzing sound. She took a hasty step back, eyes widening.

Jack jumped up. “Well done, Carter.”

“Um, sir. I don’t think that was…” She didn’t get to complete the sentence.

Two Jaffa warriors entered, followed by a tall, dark haired man. His bronze skin glistened in the orange light radiating from the walls. His hands were folded behind his back. His face reflected arrogance as his eyes scanned them. Then his lips tugged into a self-serving smirk.

“Well, well. What have we here?” He rose his eyebrows at Sam and the open wall panel. “Who are you?”

“No, who are you?” Jack took a step toward him.

The man’s eyes glowed momentarily. Sam swallowed. A Goa’uld.

“I’m System Lord Ba’al. I claim this planet for my territory. It’s uninhabited, so who are you?” The menacing friendliness in his voice sent shivers down her spine. He eyed them one by one. Then he stopped and rested his gaze on her. She swallowed hard and looked at Jack.

Jack cleared his throat. “We’re SG-1. From a small planet near the edge of the galaxy. You probably don’t know it. Lots of water? Grim people called the Aschen claiming it for themselves at the moment?”

“I see.” Ba’al’s face darkened. He stalked around Sam, leering down at her body. Then he stood in front of her. She flinched when his hand brushed over her cheek, then along the side of her head to fist in her hair.  

Trying to wriggle out of his grasp, she glared at him.

“Why don’t you tell us what you want?” Jack sounded completely calm.

Ba’al released her, and turned towards him. Sam glanced at him, thankful for the distraction. Jack signaled her to get away from the door and behind him. She hurried past the Goa’uld and stood next to him.

“What I want is for you to tell me why the Aschen are showing interest in this planet.”

Jack shrugged. “This has to be a misunderstanding.”

“Yes.” Daniel took a step forward and pushed his glasses up on his nose. “We’re not Aschen. Nor are we acting on their behalf.”

“I find that hard to believe.” The Goa’uld gave a sarcastic laugh. “You look more like Aschen spies.”

“No, no we’re really not.” Daniel sighed. “We didn’t know this planet was part of your territory. We never saw any sign of life here, and we certainly didn’t mean to intrude on—”

“What’s the name of your planet?” Ba’al paced up and down, his dark stare never leaving them. His eyes narrowed as he first circled Jack, and then walked over to Daniel to scrutinize him. None of them showed any inclination to answer him. “The Aschen are your Gods?”

“Um.” Jack held Ba’al’s gaze, face blank. “There are no Gods on our planet. Well, the Aschen sometimes think they’re Gods, but thinking you’re a God, and actually being one… Well, who am I talking to here?”

Sam swallowed hard and stared at him. How could he take this so lightly, challenging the Goa’uld this way? Wasn’t he scared?

Jack shrugged. “Hey, listen… um…” He stopped, as though he’d fogotten the guy’s name.

“Ba’al,” the Goa’uld snapped.

“Listen, Ba’al, we didn’t know this was your planet. So why don’t we just each go our separate ways? No hard feelings. I promise, we’ll leave, and you’ll never even see us again. Oh, and if you don’t mind returning our weapons to us? That’d be swell.”

Ba’al stared at him. “Impudence.”  He turned to the two Jaffa. “Jaffa, kre. Take the female and get her cleaned up. She’ll make a wonderful addition to my collection of private slaves.”

Ice poured into Sam’s veins when the two Jaffa came towards her. She took a step back.

“Hey, wait a minute.” Jack stepped in front of her. “I thought we were negotiating our release.”

“Out of my way, human.” The Jaffa growled and shoved him aside.

When he reached out to grab Sam’s arm, Jack jumped forward. He twisted the warrior’s arm and brought him to the ground with a well-placed close-combat move. Before he could tackle the second one, the telltale click of a lightening gun made them all freeze. Ba’al smirked darkly, pointing the weapon at Jack.

Blood rushed in Sam’s ears. “No.” She stumbled in front of him, her hands raised in defeat. A second shot from the lightening gun might prove fatal. For him as well as her. “No, please. I’ll go with you.”

“Carter.” Jack grabbed her arm, holding her in place when she tried to step towards Ba’al. He glowered at the Goa’uld. “I’m her commanding officer. Whatever you wanna tell her, you can say to me.”

Ba’al laughed grimly. “Don’t worry, I won’t turn her into a host. I might even return her to you once I’m done with her. Provided you give me the information I want.”

Once he was done with her? Oh, God. Blood drained from Sam’s face. Surely, he was just trying to scare them. Goa’uld normally had no sexual interest in human women. They regarded them as slaves.

Ba’al circled them. “Of course, you could make it easy on her, and yourself, and just tell me why the Aschen sent you.”

“Oh, fer cryin’ out loud.” Jack rolled his eyes.

Daniel stepped forward. “Maybe we got off on the wrong foot. I assure you, we’re not Aschen spies. We’re members of a resistance on a planet called Earth. We’re enemies of the Aschen.”

“Daniel.” Eyebrows raised, Jack stared at the archeologist. Sam swallowed. Since when did they tell aliens where they were from? Or about the resistance? Yeah, Jack would have his ass for that breach of protocol.

“Jack.” Daniel turned to him. “He’s an enemy of the Aschen, and usually, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” He eyed Ba’al. “We hate the Aschen as passionately as you. Which opens up some interesting possibilities. We could help each other in the future.”

“Daniel.” Jack’s voice took on a harder edge.

“Jack?”

“What the hell are you doing? I won’t fight one devil by teaming up with another. Besides, since when do _you_ make decisions like this?”

“Well, the situation requires more than your sarcasm. Ba’al is one of the most powerful system lords.”

“I don’t care who he is. Or thinks he is. Over my dead body.”

“Jack.”

“Enough!” Ba’al’s rumble echoed in the small room. Sam had to suppress a smirk. Surely, he wasn’t used to humans treating him so…ungodly. “You must take me for a fool to believe I’d fall for something as ridiculous as that. You.” He pointed at Sam. “With me.”

Sam folded her arms and glared at him. Ba’al growled and lifted the lightening gun again. “You’ll come with me, or I’ll kill them, and then I’ll take you by force.”

Chills ran down her spine. He would be capable of doing that, wouldn’t he? Maybe she should comply. If she got out of this cell, she’d be able to search for a way out. As things were, it didn’t look like they’d have a chance of escaping otherwise. “I’ll go with you.”

Jack’s grip on her arm tightened. “Sam.”

She turned and touched his arm. “I’ll be okay.” That certainly sounded more self-confident than she felt. She looked into his eyes. “I’ll be able to assess the situation.”

For an eternity, he held her gaze, then he gave her wrist a gentle squeeze. “You sure?”

“I can handle it, sir. I’ll be fine.”

“Okay. Go. But be careful. No unnecessary risks.”

She nodded. Her hand slipped out of his when the two Jaffa grabbed her, one on either side of her.

“Ba’al, I swear, if you hurt her, I’ll kill you with my bare hands.”

Jack’s threat echoed after her, and her stomach tightened when Ba’al gave a loud, arrogant laugh. The door rumbled closed behind her. Then, silence.

She was alone. All alone, with two Jaffa and a Goa’uld.

 

***

 

Sam flinched when the Jaffa’s grip on her naked arm tightened. Releasing an impatient grunt, he shoved her through the door into a room. She stumbled and turned, but before she could say or do anything, the heavy door slid closed.  

“Let me out.” She hit the metal with her fists, but it didn’t budge. And she couldn’t even access the wall panel since they’d taken everything from her. Literally everything.

Sam looked down at the semi-transparent silk skirt barely covering her legs, then crossed her arms over her chest. The short top ending right under her breasts barely hid anything. Sighing, she leaned against the wall and looked around.

Most of the room was taken up by a large bed that stood with its head against one of the walls. Gold-trimmed boxes and small freestanding shelves holding all kinds of pompous looking decorations stood here and there about the room.  

A bedroom? Well, at least they wanted her to be comfortable. Releasing a grim chuckle, she paced over to the bed. If she wrapped the blanket around herself, at least she wouldn’t feel so damn naked. She reached out, then wrinkled her nose and sniffed her arm. The scent of oils and ointments they’d spread over her skin after the bath she’d been forced to take wafted up sickeningly sweet.

If only she could take another bath to get that stuff off her. She startled when the door at the far end of the room opened.

Ba’al stepped inside, his eyebrows climbing and a smirk crossing his lips when he spotted her. “Extraordinarily beautiful, now that you look like a woman.”

What a double-edged compliment. She glared at him and straightened, folding her arms. “What do you want?”

Ba’al closed the door and went to one of the tables. He eyed her, as he poured red liquid resembling wine into two of the chalices standing on a golden tray.

“All I want is answers…for now.” He picked up the goblets and stalked towards her. She swallowed hard and took a step back. When he reached one of his hands out, she hesitated and then took the chalice he offered. Either he had no regard for personal space, or he ignored hers on purpose.

“You haven’t even asked any questions yet.” She put the drink down on the shelf next to her. Like she’d drink anything this Goa’uld offered her. Least of all alcohol.

Ba’al chuckled, and his dark eyes gleamed. “Those weapons of yours. They don’t look like Aschen weapons.”

Sam glared at him. If he wanted information, she sure as hell wouldn’t give him any.

“You came through the Chappa’ai, you say?”

“Yes.” Perceptive, wasn’t he? “As you correctly stated before, we don’t live on this planet.”

“Where do you come from?” Ba’al took a step toward her and reached out to run his index finger across her arm.

Shuddering, she jerked away from his touch. “My friend already told you. Our planet is called Earth. Maybe you should have this conversation with my commanding officer rather than me.” She held her breath when the back of his hand grazed her cheek.

“I meant the address for the Chappa’ai, my sweet. Do you really expect me to believe this nonsense about an Aschen resistance?” He leaned forward, his nose nuzzling her hair, and inhaled. “The women on your planet must be magnificent indeed if you’re any indication of the standard.”

“Take your hands off me.” Her voice came out barely a hiss. Ba’al smirked, then let her go with a gracious hand gesture.

“Answer my questions, and I could be persuaded to be very forthcoming.” He sat down in a chair in the corner of the room, leaning back with his arms spread out. Something about the way he leered at her made her want to vomit.

“We didn’t lie about the resistance. Our group has been operating in the shadows for almost a hundred years. Mostly on our own planet, in efforts to free ourselves from the Aschen occupation.”

His stare intensified. Sam rubbed her palms on the silky material of her skirt, then crossed her arms again. The Goa’uld seemed to have no intention of letting her go. He also didn’t appeared to believe her. Her stomach tightened. Maybe she’d been a bit premature when she’d assured Jack she’d be able to handle this.

“What are you doing on other planets? If you were part of a local resistance, shouldn’t you coordinate most of your efforts on your own planet?” Ba’al took a sip of the red liquid.

“We’re looking for technology or allies to help us in our fight.” No reason to lie there. So far, nothing she’d said was of any value.

“Sam.” She narrowed her eyebrows at the intimate use of her name. “Wasn’t that your name, darling?”

“It’s Carter for you.”

“You don’t expect me to believe a race as primitive as yours could manage to form a working resistance, do you?”

She gave a bitter laugh and shook her head. “Look, we didn’t even know this was your planet. Besides, if we were Aschen spies, do you think we would let you capture us that easily?”

Ba’al got up and strolled towards her. “All I know is, there is no such thing as a resistance against the Aschen. Not among humans, at least.”

Sam took another step back. Her back hit the cold wall with its engraved pictograms. Damn, she’d run out of room. Now her only choice was to go from defense to offense.

Ba’al didn’t falter. “Still persisting in your lie. You’d be better off confessing that you are spies. I still wouldn’t let you go, but it would make your life a lot more pleasant.”

“I’m not—” Her breath lodged in her throat when he pulled her against his chest.

“You’re mine now. Maybe I should send a thank you note to my Aschen enemies for sending such a beautiful spy as a gift. I think you’ll make a truly wonderful addition to my harem.” His hand tangled in her hair. She tried to fight the nausea overcoming her and wanted to shift away from him. “Your hair is as golden as the sun. And your eyes… I love the fire in them.”

“Bastard.” She twisted her arm out of his grasp while at the same time using his surprise to aim her fist at his face.

Ba’al’s hand closed around her wrist in a steel-like grip. “I will forgive your insolence this time. Guard your tongue and control your temper, or I will throw you to my Jaffa warriors for entertainment. Let’s see how cooperative you’ll be after spending a few hours in their company.”

Blood drained from her face.

“You’re mine, and you’ll do as I command.”

“I belong to nobody.” She gritted her teeth against an outcry when his fingers grabbed her hair and yanked her head back.

“You belong to me. I am your God.” His gaze burned into hers. His lips tugged into a smirk of cold arrogance. Cruel and relentless. She closed her eyes. “Say it…”

She pressed her lips together. No matter what he did, she would not acknowledge him as a god. Her eyes snapped open when his warm hand wrapped around her neck, his thumb caressing her pulse point.

“I could kill you so easily. It wouldn’t take much effort to snap that slender neck of yours.” His breath slithered damp across her cheek. She didn’t dare move. No doubt he was capable of doing just that. According to resistance reports, Goa’uld were stronger than the average human man. If he wanted to kill her, he could do so in a heartbeat.

“Say that I am your God.”

She studied his face. Arrogant and self-serving—but not a killer. Killing her would get him nowhere. On the contrary, it’d mean defeat for him if he didn’t manage to break her spirit first. This man was maniacally addicted to people worshipping him. Maybe she could use that to her advantage.

“Kill me.” She glared at him, jaw clenched. “But I will never bow down to you.”

His eyes glowed briefly and his fingers around her throat tightened.

Oh, God, what if she’d misjudged him? What if he’d actually snap her neck? A smile crossed the Goa’uld’s face.

“I like your courage. You’d make an excellent queen. What do you say?” He leaned in, his mouth brushing her cheek. Sam closed her eyes when his breath fanned her skin. He smelled like myrrh, cinnamon, and something sweet she couldn’t quite define. Much like the ointments they’d put on her skin. The scent nauseated her. “I can give you power and a very long life. I’ll give you servants. I’ll place the entire galaxy at your feet.”

“Half the galaxy, you mean.” She gave him a sarcastic smile. “Half of it belongs to the Aschen.”

Rage flashed across his face. Surely, the Aschen rule over the galaxy had to be a sore spot to his ego. How did he justify his inability to defeat them to his Jaffa? Weren’t Gods almighty?

His grip on her throat tightened and she winced, gasping for air.

“I can smell your fear.” Ba’al pressed a kiss against her cheek. “Play brave and courageous all you want, but I can feel your body tremble against me.”

Yes, she was scared. But she’d never give him the satisfaction of admitting that to him.

“This experience can either be very satisfying for you…” He loosened his grip around her neck and ran his hand through her short hair, then yanked her head back again. “…or it can be unpleasant. Your choice.”

His fingers slipped under the hem of her skirt. She scowled at him. She wouldn’t succumb. He was gonna hurt her anyway, and she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of breaking.

Ba’al grinned. “So you decided to play the rebel. You know, I’ve always had a preference for wild women. It’s so much more fun to tame them, and subjugating them comes with so much more satisfaction than it does from a woman who’s already willing to serve. Wouldn’t you agree?”

He pressed his mouth to hers in a hard kiss. She yelped and tried to push him away, but his grip was too strong. His greedy tongue shoved past her lips, ran along hers. His hand in her hair prevented her from breaking contact. _Disgusting._

She struggled, and did the only thing she was capable of. She bit him.

With a grunt, he snapped his head back and ran the back of his hand over his mouth. Red streaked his lips. Satisfaction flooded through her. _That’s what you get for trying to force yourself on me, bastard._

“You insolent little wench.” Yanking her hair, he dragged her across the room, and threw her down onto the large bed. The air left her lungs when she landed on the mattress. Gritting her teeth against a scream, Sam kicked against his chest, then turned on her hands and knees to crawl to the other side.

Ba’al’s hands wrapped like iron clasps around her ankles, and with a forceful tug, he pulled her back onto the bed.

“No.” She fisted her hands and kicked at him. Ba’al winced in pain, then his eyes flared.  

“Stop it. Woman. _Stop_!”

The hell she would. She managed to kick him off her, then slid out from under him. When he grabbed her arm to drag her back, she turned and slammed her fist into his eye. He tumbled backwards, giving her enough time to roll out of bed and jump up.

But he caught himself quickly, surprising her when he grabbed her nape, spun her around, and slapped her hard across the face. Head spinning, she hit the hard floor. Pain jolted through her cheek and light flashed in front of her eyes. Dazed and disoriented, she moaned. Her fingers touched her cheek. Numb. Then pain returned.

When Ba’al pulled her to her feet, she yelped and stumbled. He threw her on the mattress again, then her wrists were in his grip and something cold wrapped around them. Sam twisted, wrenched, and screamed through gritted teeth. No use.

Finally, he let go of her, panting. Tearing at her restraints, she looked up. Metal chains around her wrists connected her to the bed. He’d won.

“You bastard. Let me go. I swear I’ll kill you.” She yanked at the cuffs. The sharp metal edges cut into her flesh. She ignored the pain. He’d been too strong, and now she was helpless. Panic rolled over her like a wave. The room swam before her eyes.

“Now that’s better.” Ba’al relaxed next to her, his head resting on his elbow. His palm ran down along her collarbone and chest. “You can scream all you want, nobody will care. As your God I can do with you as I please. I can hurt you. Or please you. I can even take your life.”

“Take your filthy hand off me.” She tried to sound threatening but hitch in her voice ruined it. Writhing against her restraints, she tried to get away from him. Ba’al leaned in to her ear and pressed a hot, sloppy kiss on her neck.

Her throat constricted. “Please don’t.”

“If you persist on such stubbornness, I’ll have to hurt your friends.” He moved down her neck. “I’ll bring them here, one by one. Then I’ll kill them before your eyes.”

 _No. Please, no._ Her stomach roiled. “Don’t…”

She’d lost. Not only was he stronger, but he held the lives of Jack and Daniel in his hands. One word from him, and his Jaffa warriors would kill them.

She closed her eyes as his left hand moved lower over her waist to her barely covered hips, then slipped into her panties.

His touch was neither soft, nor in any way pleasant. For a moment, she truly understood what women in the Aschen breeding factories went through. Her eyes stung as she struggled to move away from his hand. When his fingers moved through her folds, she froze, sobbing. Not like this… She had to do something, anything. “Please… stop.”

His lips brushed over her cheek. Slow, tender, menacing. Her throat clenched. She stood no chance against him and he knew that. Maybe, if she didn’t fight back it’d be over faster. Maybe if she complied he wouldn’t draw it out unnecessarily. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she squeezed her eyes shut.

_A dream. Please let this be a dream._

She forced her breathing to slow, forced herself to relax under his touch. She was a soldier. She’d been trained for combat situations. Hand to hand combat, target shooting, strategy. She’d become good in all of them. None of them were skills that’d get her out. None of them were strong enough to make up for the weakness of being a woman.

Ba’al groped one of her breasts, licked a wet trail over her skin. Sam’s eyes fluttered open and she stared at the golden ceiling with its pictograms. Focused her eyes on a particular one. A bird. If only she were a bird. Or one of those wall carvings. Her fingers clenched the sheets above her head.

Ba’al’s hand rubbed between her legs, rough and demanding. _Jack._ She swallowed hard. _I’m sorry._

Memories of her first month alone flashed through her mind. Back then she’d thought that, once she learned to fight and defend herself, something like this would never happen again. How ridiculously naïve she’d been.

Then she faltered. She had handled it, though. Back then, she’d fought off sexual advances all the time. She’d dealt with Hanson, too. Kinda. Damn, if only she could get her hands free.

The Goa’uld was manically obsessed with people worshipping him. Her eyes snapped open. “I’ll do as you say.”

The words slipped out before she had time to give it a second thought. Ba’al lifted his head, studied her through narrowed eyes.

“Please, don’t hurt me. You’re my God, and I’ll obey you.” She felt herself smile at him, lift her head, brush her lips against his chin, but somehow suddenly she seemed to be only a bystander to her own actions.

He claimed her mouth, hard and without finesse, and she opened willingly. It really wasn’t that difficult. She could trick herself into reacting the way he wanted.

_Suddenly Jack was there, with her, in the room. Standing behind her, watching that other Sam kiss the Goa’uld so desperately. His hands trailed down her arms, his warm lips finding the spot right under her ear, liquefying her insides._

_“I wish it could be you.” She turned her head to him, her nose brushing his cheek, feeling the hint of a scratchy shadow._

_Jack wrapped his arms around her waist, pulled her closer. “It_ is _me, Sam. Close your eyes. Let me make this right.”_

_She did, and then his hand slipped between her legs, his touch so gentle, so knowing. “Yes.” She clutched his wrist. His fingers stroked through her folds. Wetness pooled between her legs when one of his thumbs flicked her nipple. “Yes, please.”_

_“You want me to take you, Sam?”_

_“Yes.” She turned in his arms, cupped his cheeks with her hands and pulled him into a warm, deep kiss._

_“That’s right. Submit to your God…”_

Wait, what? He wouldn’t say that. Her eyes opened, and she stared at Ba’al.

She had to get out of these damn restraints. “Please. Let me touch you. I will do as you say, but let me touch you.” Her head turned, eyes drifting shut.

_Jack’s hand between her legs became more insistent. He teased her entrance. “Will you let me take your body willingly now?”_

_As though she’d ever deny him. “Yes.”_

_“Say yes, my Lord.”_

_His chestnut eyes sparkled in the golden light. She leaned in to his lips. “Yes, my Lord.”_

_His thumb brushed over her clit, rough and hard, and she arched into him with a groan. Her hips writhed against him, seeking more._

_“I will have so much fun with you, my beautiful.”_

_He reached for her wrists, tenderly brushed his thumb across them. Pain shot through her arm and she flinched._

_“Shhh. Open your eyes, Sam. It’s fine. Everything’s all right.” Jack’s lips sought hers, and she did what he’d asked. She opened her eyes._

She shifted her arms. No more restraints. Her fingers tangled in the Goa’uld’s oily hair. She sighed. When he withdrew and looked down at her, she smiled. Cupped his cheeks with her hands.

And then she slammed her head up. Her forehead crashed into Ba’al’s face. At the moment of impact, she jammed her leg up, and her knee crashed into his groin. He groaned.

She shoved against his chest until he moved off her and turned onto his back, holding his nose. Not giving him a chance to recover, she straddled him, seized his wrists, and pinned them above his head. He struggled weakly, and she hurried to close the metal shackles around his wrists. Then she leaned back.

Slightly dizzy, she stared down at him and wiped the back of her hand over her mouth. His nose bled, his face pulled into a grimace. “Never ever touch me again if you want to live.”

He stared at her, then gave her an arrogant laugh. “You just sealed your fate.”

She ignored him. Something grazed her inner thigh. Something cold between the layers of his robe. She looked down. A lightning gun.

She reached down and yanked it out of its holster at the Goa’uld’s belt. He still didn’t fight against the shackles. In some kind of perverse pleasure, the system lord seemed to enjoy her revolt without considering her a serious threat. His eyes sparkled dangerously.

Yeah, if he ever got hold of her again, he’d kill her. Or worse.

Shaking, she climbed of the bed and aimed the weapon at him. Ba’al’s smile froze, then cocked his head and smiled darkly.

“Beautiful, put the zat’nik’tel down, or I’ll get real violent with you. We were just starting to get along.”

“Shut up.” Sam scowled at him. “You despicable bastard.”

“Don’t pretend you didn’t enjoy this. Your body reacted to my touch. I felt it. You liked the prospect of being taken by a God.” He chuckled. “I wonder what your friends would say if they knew how much my touch aroused—”

She discharged the weapon. Focused lightening lanced out. His body slumped into the mattress. Then silence.

Sam kept the lightening gun aimed at the unconscious Goa’uld. Two shots killed… She could kill him. It would be so easy. Nobody would ever know he’d been unarmed and unconscious. It was self-defense. Her grip on the gun tightened, then her fingers began to tremble. _So easy… So damn easy. Do it. What are you waiting for?_

She couldn’t do it. Teeth gritted, she let out a desperate outcry. Why couldn’t she do it? What kind of soldier was she? He’d tried to rape her, and yet she hesitated to kill him?

Had he been right? Had she actually enjoyed what he’d done?

She shifted, pressed her legs together against the uncomfortable wetness pooling there. Arousal. Oh God, he’d been right. She _had_ enjoyed it? What the hell was wrong with her?

The silence in the room threatened to overwhelm her. Her breathing quickened. She’d kissed Ba’al. She’d allowed him to touch her and her body had responded to his roughness so easily.

“God!” Self-loathing and disgust welling up inside her. Dizzy, she leaned against the cold wall of the room.

She had to focus. Her gaze shifted to the weapon in her hand. _Zat’nik’tel_. So that was the actual name for it.

She had to get out of here before Ba’al woke up again and alerted his Jaffa. Surely, she wouldn’t get a second chance at this. He wouldn’t fall for the trick again. And he probably wouldn’t hesitate to make good on his threats her as soon as he came to. Which could be at any minute…

Sam pushed herself away from the wall and sneaked to the door. The thin slippers she wore at least made it easier to move without a sound. The door swished open.

She peeked outside. An endless golden corridor…and another endless golden corridor at the other side. Well, at least no Jaffa in sight anywhere. Now all she had to do was find her way back to the cell. If she remembered correctly, she’d have to go right, then right again.

Heart pounding, she followed the corridors, making her way down endless hallways framed by golden walls and occasional decorative torches.

Heavy steps sounded from somewhere behind her. Sam froze and turned, listening. Jaffas. She recognized the metal clack of their boots on the solid floor. Panicked, she looked around. Nowhere to hide.

She turned right into a smaller corridor. There was a door at the end of it. _Please let it open._

Sam pushed the control crystal at the side, and the door swished open. She slid inside. Behind her, the door rumbled close again.

A dead end. The room looked like a storage room with large boxes framing the walls. The steps outside grew louder. Oh God, the guards were coming to this room. Had they found her?

She raced to a stack of boxes, then squeezed herself into the small space behind them, the zat’nik’tel pressed against her chest. If it came down to it, she could still try to shoot them, and hope they wouldn’t alert reinforcements in the process.

She peeked through a small opening between two boxes. Two Jaffa entered the room. One of them pressed four buttons on a six-button control panel in the wall right next to the entrance. A code? She narrowed her eyes. _Upper left, middle right, lower right, upper right._

Then he stepped to the middle. Sam’s eyes widened, when four horizontal rings shot up from the ground, enveloping the warriors in light so bright that she had to close her eyes. When she opened them again, they were gone. Vanished into thin air.

 _Transportation. Of course._ These rings had to be transportation devices. That would explain the absence of stairs or elevators anywhere. Carefully, she straightened, then slid out from her hiding place. Only a faint circular outline on the ground marked the spot where the rings had come out of. She’d have to remember where this room was. This might be their way out.

She approached the door and, after a careful look around, left the room. The Jaffa hadn’t taken long to bring her from the cell to the bath chamber, and then to Ba’al’s private quarters. She had to be close.

After another ten minutes of aimlessly running through the corridors, she finally found the pillar with a torch that she’d remembered. That meant the door right behind it should…

She touched the door, then placed her hand over the small control crystal beside it. Nothing. She raised her eyebrows at the panel. Six buttons, just like in the other room. She’d probably need a code. Should she try the same one that she’d seen that Jaffa use just now? But what if it was wrong? The last thing she needed was an alarm going off.

She looked down. Hadn’t McKay said this zat’nik’tel opened a lock?

Maybe it was a long shot, but she didn’t have another choice. She took a step back, then lifted the weapon, aimed, and shot. Sparks flew, and lightening sizzled over the golden surface for a few moments, then the doors slid open. _Yes!_

She squeezed herself inside. Jack and Daniel stared at her, unmoving.

“Carter.”

“Sir, we gotta get out of here.”

Jack jumped up. “Sure. Um.” His gaze trailed down her body, then back up to her face. He raised his eyebrows. “Carter?”

“Long story, sir.”

His face gentled. “You okay?” Gaze fixating on her cheek, he touched her arm.

Sam lifted her hand and winced when her fingers touched the side of her face. Pain shot through her head. Ba’al had hit her pretty hard. Was there a visible bruise?

“I’m fine.” She pulled away from his touch. He couldn’t touch her, not after what Ba’al had…after _she_ had participated so eagerly. She’d betrayed him, cheated on him. Surely, he would hate her if he learned about…

He couldn’t know. Ever.

Jack studied her for a moment too long and she swallowed hard under his scrutiny. _He knows something’s up._ But he turned to Daniel. “All right then, let’s go. Carter, you know a way out of here?”

She nodded. “I think so, sir.”

“Lead the way.”

Quietly, they sneaked through the door and made their way along the corridor. They had almost reached a crossroads, when the loud wailing of an alarm made them all freeze. Their escape had been discovered. Ba’al had most likely regained consciousness.

Sam tried to fight the panic welling up again. If he caught them…

A warm palm on her shoulder made her turn her head. Jack. His deep chestnut eyes studied her face. “Ignore it. Keep walking. And keep the gun—”

He didn’t get to finish. As they rounded a corner they ran into two Jaffa guards blocking the way. Breath hitching, Sam jerked up the zat’nik’tel, shot first one Jaffa and then the other.

“Nice reflexes.” Jack smirked at her as he approached the unconscious warriors. He grabbed both of their zat’nik’tels and looked around before he threw one of them at Daniel. “Let’s move. I don’t want to run into more of these goons.”

“This way, sir.” She pointed in the direction the Jaffa had come from. Just one more corner… She exhaled in relief when she saw the long hallway with the storage room at the end. “There.”

They ran along the corridor. Once the doors closed behind them, Sam leaned down to catch her breath.

Jack raised his eyebrows and looked around. “Um, Carter?”

“You have to get to the middle of the room, sir.” She hurried to the wall panel. The combination. What was it again? _Upper left, middle right, lower right and upper right._ She pressed the buttons, then turned and raced to the middle of the room. She grabbed both Jack’s and Daniel’s arms and pulled them close against her.

Both men raised their eyebrows at her.

“If I’m right, all you need to do is stand in the middle of this circle and it should automatically—”

A bright light surrounded them, making the room disappear. Next second, they stood on a stone pedestal in the middle of a wide, open field.

“—activate and transport us away.” She released a sigh. Thank God it had worked. She’d taken a leap of faith assuming the rings would transport them back to the planet, and not just to another level in the facility.

“Wow.” Jack looked up at the sky, then down on the small stone pedestal. “Cool.”

His almost innocent enthusiasm made her smile. She sneaked a glance at him. “Pretty much.”

“You don’t suppose he would be willing to give us one or two of these?” Daniel grinned.

Jack gave him a pointed look. “Sure, let’s go back inside and negotiate it with Ba’al.”

A giggle bubbled up in Sam. She looked around as the two men stepped off the pedestal. With their warmth around her gone, she shivered in the chilly breeze brushing against her naked skin. God, she was still wearing the ridiculous outfit that left her almost naked. She hugged her body.

“I don’t remember it being this cold.”

Jack turned to her. “Yeah, well, last time you were wearing more than just—” His gaze trailed down her body and he swallowed visibly. Warmth flushed her cheeks when he lingered on her breasts, then on her waist. He cleared his throat. “—that.”

She flinched and rubbed her arms.

Grimacing, Jack crossed the distance between them, then placed his jacket around her shoulders. “Sorry. Here.”

She gave him a grateful smile. “Thank you, sir.”

Jack motioned towards the forest in the distance. “Alright, kids. Back to the gate, so we can—” He cut himself off and looked down at his wrist, then at Daniel and her. “Do either of you still have your watches?”

“No, the guards took mine.” Daniel scratched a hand through his hair.

“No. They took everything from me.” She shook her head.

Jack groaned. “Then we might have a bit of a problem. Let’s hope our stuff’s still where we left it, otherwise we’ll have no way of knowing what time it is.”

  1. Their Stargate window. Blood drained from her face. She hadn’t even thought of that. Maybe they should have searched Ba’al’s ship for their weapons and equipment before leaving. “How are we going to know when to dial…?”



“I know.” Jack gave her a pointed look. “For now, let’s assume we’ll find our stuff. There’ll be a clock in your computer that we can use, Carter.”

 

***

 

Just once things could’ve gone their way.

Jack scanned the grass around the group of rocks they’d made camp at earlier. Those damn bastards had made sure to take every piece of technology with them. A few cables, empty boxes, and tons of Daniel’s notes remained. He kicked one of the empty boxes out of the way.

“Seriously, next time I say we’ll leave, whoever says ‘No, sir’—“

“At least I found my notebook.” Daniel beamed at them.

Jack scowled. Even Sam didn’t seem to share Daniel’s enthusiasm. For once. She was probably overthinking. But even for that, she was unusually quiet. Something was going on with her.

“So, that’s that then.” He clapped his hands together, then waved them around. “Daniel, grab your notes and anything that might point to who we are. Leave everything else. Carter, we’ll keep an eye out. I don’t want to run into Ba’al’s guards again.”

Not five minutes later, they walked in the direction of the Stargate. Without their watches and a way to determine time, they couldn’t return to Earth. If they did, they’d step through the Aschen Stargate in Powhatan. They’d be arrested, probably interrogated. It was a risk they couldn’t take.

That left them with the option to dial their current beta-site. Hopefully, someone at camp would have enough sense to dial it up and send a team through to look for them. Without the radio, they couldn’t even make contact.

 _Mental note. Place emergency kit on beta-site. A watch, a radio, some emergency rations. Stuff that can be easily hidden._ Jack growled. As things were, they might have to stay on the beta site for a few days. He’d informed Sheppard they’d study the ruins. First thing Sheppard’d do would be to dial up this planet and check up on them. Probably send a team here.

Daniel still had his notebooks, maybe they could leave a note by the dialing device—provided Ba’al’s Jaffa weren’t swarming the area.

Jack turned his head. Next to him, Sam walked quietly, gaze on the ground, arms clutching herself. He gave her a gentle nudge and the corners of her mouth tugged up. Something was off. There was no sparkle in her eyes.

“We’ll get back home.” He gave her a soft smile.

“I know.” She nodded. Again that fake expression. What the hell was going on? What had happened after she’d left them?

Time passed. Could’ve been an hour, or maybe minutes. He wasn’t sure, and in the end, it didn’t matter.

“Jack, wait a second.” Daniel’s voice sounded almost loud compared to the silence from before. He stared into his notebook, up at some point in the distance, then back into his notebook again. “I think that’s the rock formation this text was talking about. The one close to where they hid the ship.”

Jack stared at him. Amazing how he could apparently tune out the impending reality of their situation. “Rock formation? What ship? What the hell are you talking about?”

“Well, if you had been listening to me earlier—”

“Daniel.” Jack glared at him. Worst possible time for another one of those discussions.

“The ship, Jack. The text was talking about a very technologically advanced ship. It belonged to an Ancient who settled here on this planet millennia ago. He kept his ship hidden from the tribes who used to live here to blend in. If we can find it—”

 _Oh, here we go again._ “Assuming it’s still here, and he didn’t leave in it.”

“No, he died here. He wrote the text on the stone pillars at an old age to tell future generations about the ship. He said if they were at a stage of development where they could translate and understand the text, they’d be ready for the technology.”

“So even if we found it, then what, Daniel? Just fly it back to Earth?” Jack turned to Sam by his side, unable to hide his annoyance. “Carter, how long would that take exactly?”

Sam lifted her head. She looked confused for a moment, then shrugged. Her answer came a few seconds too late. “Anything from a few days to a couple of hundred years, sir. Give or take a few depending on the ship’s engine power, and whether it would be capable of going into hyperspace.”

“Ah.” Jack nodded at Daniel. “See? Child’s play. We’ll just find the ship and—snap—in hundred years we’ll be back home.”

“Jack.” Daniel folded his arms. “What do we have to lose? If we go through the gate now, we’ll spend God knows how many hours on the beta-site.”

“Yeah, and if we stay here, we’ll be sitting ducks for that Ba’al guy.”

Daniel sighed. “But wouldn’t he expect us to go through the gate? Besides, Ba’al has most of my notes, so he probably knows about the ship now, too. Do you really want him to find it first?”

“He has a point, sir.” Sam looked at him. “Besides, it seems we have nothing to lose right now.”

“Yeah, yeah, fine. Let’s go find your ship. But let me tell you, if it doesn’t fly, I’m gonna be pissed.”

Jack trudged in the direction Daniel had indicated. If they were gonna stay here, they’d have to make shelter. With the way Sam was dressed, they couldn’t sleep out in the open. Who knew how cold this planet would get once the sun set.


	30. Tainted Soul

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> This version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

_Clank…_

Sam stared as Jack groaned, holding his forehead. The metallic sound had come out of nowhere. There was nothing but trees and thicket around them. What on Earth...?

He tumbled back and his face pulled into a grimace. “That’s new.” The hollow clank repeated when he kicked the air in front of him with his foot. “Carter?”

Sam stepped closer. There was nothing there except the winding path—at least nothing they could see. When Jack turned to look at her, she swallowed.

“I’m not sure, sir.” She reached out. Cold, smooth… Definitely a metal surface. “This feels like a wall of some kind.”

“This’s it. That’s the ship.” Daniel browsed through his notes. “Yes. Here, it was saying something about an invisible shield. Maybe it doesn’t mean invisible shield, but shield of invisibility.”

“Okay.” Jack turned to him. “How do we turn it off? And how do we get inside?”

“Um.” Daniel scratched his head, and turned a few pages before he shrugged. “To be honest, it doesn’t say.”

“Then how exactly does this help us?”

Sam groaned inwardly. For the past few hours, the two men had fought over stupid banalities. She wouldn’t stand another one of their discussions. “We could search for an access panel or a door.” She reached out again, sliding her fingers along the smooth metal. Hopefully it didn’t have any sharp edges.

Jack and Daniel looked at each other, then joined her in her efforts. They marked the edges of the structure with stones and branches.

At last Sam’s fingers made contact with something that appeared to be... “I think I found an access panel.”

Jack and Daniel stepped back and looked at her expectantly. She outlined something big and round with her fingers. A button? Damn, this was the worst possible scenario. Pushing a button without knowing what it did could very easily lead to a disaster.

“Daniel, you’re sure that this is a ship?” She looked at the archeologist.

“Um, yeah, why?” He pushed his glasses up on his nose. “Relatively sure, at least.”

“Well, I think I found a button. If this is a ship, this could be an outside access panel to gain entry. On the other hand, if it’s something else, something like a huge cloaked weapon or bomb…” She flinched.

“Well.” Daniel shifted from one foot to the other. “It’s the ship. I mean it has to be. It fits the descriptions in the notes.”

“Alright.” She nodded, looking at Jack. “Sir?”

“If Daniel says it’s the ship, I say, what do we have to lose? Try the button.”

“Yes, sir.” She turned to the ship. Her fingers moved over the round shape. Hopefully the mechanism was still functional after so many years.

“Waitwaitwaitwaitwait!”

Heart pounding, she snapped her hand back. Bomb. It was a bomb after all, wasn’t it?

Jack scowled at Daniel. “Hey!”

Daniel flipped through more of the pages, apparently reading up on something. Then he visibly relaxed. “Okay. It says here, rectangular. It should be the ship.”

“You sure?” Her body shook from the surge of adrenaline.

“I am. I think.” Daniel nodded.

“Cause if you aren’t…”

“I am.”

“Oh fer crying out loud.” Jack rubbed his fingers across his forehead. “Carter, push the damn button already.”

She turned and pressed her palm against the smooth button. It gave in with surprising ease. Low humming sounded next to her. She jumped aside, away from the ship to make sure she wouldn’t be crushed by some unseen part of it. Some invisible hatch had to have opened, judging from the impression on the leaves and dirt on the forest floor.

She took a hesitant step forward. The ground under her feet became smooth, solid and a ship appeared in front of her.

“Um…Carter?”

Eyebrows raised, Sam turned and looked at Jack and Daniel, who glanced around aimlessly. As if they didn’t see her.

“I’m here, sir.” She took a step back off the ramp. The cloak must affect any person stepping inside it as well. “It’s the ship. We’ve found it. Just follow me in.”

Jack and Daniel stepped inside after her. The ship held space for maybe ten people overall. It looked more advanced than any of the technology they’d come across so far.

Jack gave a low whistle. “Wow. Cool.”

“Very.” Sam stepped into the pilot’s cabin to look at the console’s controls. “It’s definitely Ancient, sir.”

“Is it still working?” Jack gave her a sidelong glance while he examined the large round installation in the middle of what looked like a small cargo bay.

“Yes, sir, I think so. Since the invisibility shield is still functional, it has to draw power from somewhere. And if there’s power, the ship has at least basic functionality.” She stepped aside to let Daniel pass.

The archeologist’s eyes grew wide with fascination. “Can you get it to fly?”

She shrugged. “Maybe. Ancient technology is so advanced we haven’t even been able to interface it with our computers. It might take some time.” She examined some of the controls in the cockpit. “Hey Daniel, do these symbols mean anything to you?”

The archeologist leaned in and studied the symbols. “I’ve seen some of them before, in the Ancient underground structure at Antarctica. I might be able to translate at least a few without my dictionaries.”

“What’s this?” Jack hit his foot against the installation in the back of the ship. Sam scrunched her brows. The style and design were slightly different from the rest of the ship. Maybe it had been set in after the ship was already completed. She stepped closer.

“It looks like an independent subsystem, but frankly, at this point I don’t have a clue what any of this is.”

“It doesn’t seem to work anymore, though.” Daniel sat in the pilot’s seat and randomly pushed some of the buttons on the display in front of him. “Nothing happens.”

“Well, that’s a bummer.” Jack folded his arms and leaned against the wall.

Sam shook her head. “That doesn’t make sense. It must draw power, otherwise the shield wouldn’t be working. May I?”

She urged Daniel aside to open one of the panels at the side of the pilot’s seat she recognized as an access panel from her work in the underground structure. “There’s power. The circuits are lit, and the hum indicates the flow of an electric current. Maybe some of the contacts are fried. I might be able to fix it once I know where the problem is. Getting there will take a while, though. Especially without my tools and instruments.”

“All right.” Jack pushed himself away from the wall. “We’ll make camp here. Daniel, let’s see if we can find water and food. Carter, you’ll take care of the ship.”

The archeologist dropped the bag with his notes and strolled back outside.

Jack turned and leaned over the console as if studying it. “We’ll stay within hearing distance. If something’s wrong, just yell, okay?”

“I’ll be fine, sir. The ship is cloaked, so I’ll be safer in here than you are out there.” She gave him a weak smile. He nodded but kept studying her.

She raised her eyebrows when she felt his eyes bore into her. “Sir?”

“What happened to you while you were gone?” His face gentled. “Did Ba’al…did he…hurt you?”

“No, I’m fine.” She pushed the returning memories aside. If only he wouldn’t remind her of it.

“Sam, what happened?”

“Nothing happened. We talked. He tried to rape me. I fought him off. That’s all.” _That’s all?_ As if that wasn’t enough. She still felt the Goa’uld’s hands on her body, between her legs. Still felt the remnants of her surrender, her arousal. If only she could take a shower. She squeezed her eyes shut, then forced herself to smile at him. “I’m fine. Really.”

Jack released a curse. “I swear, next time I see him I’ll—”

“It’s fine, sir. I was more than capable of handling it.” She straightened and folded her arms. Why couldn’t he let it go? Why did he have to turn it into a big deal? And why that damn sympathy on his face?

She certainly didn’t deserve his pity. Not after what she’d done. “It’s part of the job. We get caught, we fight our way out. I read the resistance reports, it’s happened before. It’s what we were trained for.”

“Not like that.” He raked his hand through his hair and plopped down against the console. “I’m sorry, Sam. I’m in charge and should’ve never let you go with them. I should’ve protected you.”

She spun around, a sudden rush of aggression welling up. “I don’t need your protection. _Sir._ ”

Jack stared at her, visibly perplexed.

“I’m more than capable of defending myself without your help.” Her insides iced. What was she doing? This wasn’t his fault. She shouldn’t snap at him for this. She didn’t even want to. If anybody was to blame, it was her. He’d done nothing wrong. Why did she feel so powerless, so out of control? Shower. She wanted a shower.

She had a task to complete. She needed to fix this ship to get them home. Ship, circuits, technology. Her area of expertise. Pulse racing, she turned to the controls.

Jack’s warm palm touched her arm. “Sam, I wasn’t implying…”

Such a gentle touch… on her skin still covered in disgusting ointments. Something snapped inside her. She jerked away from him.

“You implied you wished you’d prevented the guards from taking me away, because apparently you think I’m incapable of protecting myself. We got out. _I_ got us out. You think it would’ve gone better if you’d taken care of things?” He might’ve ended up dead. Her heart wrenched.

Blood rushed in her ears and she forced her breathing to remain calm. Why couldn’t she be strong? Why couldn’t she get that sense of power and control back? Everything seemed to be slipping away from her. She had to hang on.

 _Soldiers don’t have freaking panic attacks. Especially not in the field._  

Her eyes stung. She turned away and hugged herself. If only Jack would stop looking at her like that. If only she’d stop feeling as though he could see everything Ba’al did to her. And how her body had responded.

 

***

 

Jack stared at Sam’s back. Why did she act like he’d attacked her or criticized her performance? And what the hell was with that snippiness? Anger welled up in him.

“Watch the tone, Carter. I wasn’t implying I’d have done a better job. What’s the matter with you?”

“Just…forget it.”

“That would be ‘Forget it, sir’.” He frowned at her when she spun.

She slammed the cover of the access panel down on the helm and glared at him. “Pulling rank? That’s your answer to this? You keep saying I can’t defend myself, and then you dare pull rank on me? Why engage in an equal conversation when you just have the power to shut me up, right?”

“Carter.” His heart hammered. Was she trying to challenge him? Push his buttons? What the hell was the matter with her? “Calm down.”

“No way.”

 _Okay, that’s it._ He grabbed her shoulders. Panic flickered in her eyes as he pulled her close to him and forced her to look at him. “That would be ‘No way, Colonel.’ Now shut up, and listen to me.”

She flinched, her hands against his chest applying warning pressure as if she was preparing herself to shove him away.

He softened his grip. “I don’t know what the hell just happened, but I was neither implying you didn’t do a good job, nor that I would’ve done it better. For crying out loud!”

He released her and scratched his hand through his hair. How the hell had the situation gotten so out of control? And more importantly, why?

“Then why don’t you trust me to defend myself?” Her tone was weak, her voice void of emotion.

Jack stared at her. “I do trust you. I never said or meant to say that I didn’t.” He narrowed his eyes, leaning forward. “But I don’t think that’s the issue here. The issue is that _you_ don’t trust me.”

“What?” Again that glare.

He scowled at her. She wouldn’t start into another one of her rants now. “This isn’t even a professional problem. No, we’ve had this problem ever since you learned we’re married. You’re unwilling to rely on me. I don’t think that changed even when we agreed to try dating.”

“That’s not—”

“I’m not done, _Ensign_. If you were able to rely on me, you wouldn’t have the constant need to prove you can do things on your own. If I wanted people to fight on their own, I’d send rogue fighters through the gate. We have teams so we can have each other’s back. But you don’t trust me to have yours. Or, you don’t want me to. I don’t know which one it is, or which one would be worse for that matter.”

She stared at him until her eyes glistened. Then she lowered her face to some undefined point on the helm.

He waited for her to say something. Anything to give him a hint about what the hell was going on. Any sign that she cared, or was willing to work on it with him. She remained silent. His heart grew heavy as he shook his head.

“Sam, this isn’t gonna work if you won’t trust me. I need you to rely on me the way I rely on you. And I most certainly won’t have you pull one-man-stunts just to satisfy your need to prove something.”

Maybe it was the cold tone in his voice, or what he said, but something made her look up.

“Jack.” She pressed her lips together, held his gaze. Still unwilling to talk.

He straightened. “It was wrong to start this discussion here. We’ve got more important things to worry about. See if you can get this ship to work. Daniel and I’ll go look for water. We’ll stay within hearing distance.” He turned and left her standing where she was.

Once outside, he trudged off into the forest without a word. Daniel followed him quietly.

Jack growled. All he asked of her was honesty and loyalty. Was that really too much? And why did she have such a problem relying on him? He picked up a stone and flung it into the forest. Food and water. He had to concentrate on what they needed.

_No letting personal feelings interfere with duty._

Yeah, right. Easier said than done.

 

***

 

Sam rubbed her arms against the cold as she walked to the back of the ship. Jack and Daniel had managed to close the hatch, but it was still way too cold, at least with the outfit she wore.

She pulled Jack’s jacket close around her and buried her face in it. It smelled like him. Her heart ached. He’d made a bed in one of the corners, his back leaning against the wall as he studied her. She took a step toward him, then faltered. He’d touch her, pull her close. Smell the disgusting ointments.

She turned and then opted for a corner opposite to where he lay. After what he’d said, he probably wouldn’t even want her near him. Did that mean it was over between them?

_This isn’t gonna work if you won’t trust me._

His words echoed in her mind, tugged at her heart, made her want to curl up into a ball. How had this happened? How could things go downhill so fast between them? She liked him. She wanted to be with him.

Well, life didn’t always work out the way one wanted. She pulled the jacket close and shivered. Cold filled her from the inside as she stared at the wall. If only she could talk to him about what had happened. He’d never understand, though. Who would, if she herself didn’t know how Ba’al’s hands on her body could’ve had such an effect?

Her stomach clenched as the images flooded her mind. His hand moving down her belly, pressing between her legs, rubbing. Nausea threatened to overwhelm her and she closed her eyes. She wanted to wash, shower, anything to erase the memory.

She shouldn’t feel like this. Damn it, she was a soldier. If all the training she’d gone through couldn’t make her strong enough to fight of attackers… Her eyes stung.

Sleep eluded her for most of the night. Whenever she closed her eyes, the images flooded back. Aside from that, the temperatures dropped below freezing.

When the first sunbeams leaked through the trees, she was almost relieved. She’d be able to get back to work. At least that would distract her. She delved into the masses of circuits and crystals while Daniel went back to translating the symbols all around the ship.

Jack stood watch.

After a while, she found some crystals which looked like they were burned out. She managed to replace them with intact ones from a little box they’d found in a compartment under one of the benches in the back section, but it didn’t make any difference. The ship didn’t react to any of the commands.

At last, Jack stepped back inside the ship. “Alright, I’m putting an end to this. We can’t waste our time here with a wrecked ship. We gotta find water and food. Then we’ll make our way to the gate to get to the beta-site.”

Sam closed the lid of the control panel. Fine, so they’d leave this ship here. She didn’t care.

Daniel glanced at her and she gave him a shrug. He turned to Jack. “Jack. I think we’re close. We found out this middle panel is a mobile control unit for the Stargate. You can remotely dial the gate. That further strengthens my theory that the Ancients were the builders of the gate and not the Aschen.”

“Does it work?” Jack folded his arms.

“Well, not exactly. Yet. But—”

“Daniel, you two’ve been at this for hours, without any progress.” He stepped into the cockpit and plopped into the pilot’s seat. “Show me one thing that works on this damn ship, and I’ll reconsider—”

Controls flickered, then the panels in front of him lit up. Sam stared at him, then at the panels. How the hell did he do that?

He cleared his throat. “Okay. That’s something.” Brows raised, he glanced up at her. “Carter?”

“I…don’t know, sir. How did you do that? Daniel and I have tried activating it for hours.” Her heart quickened as she leaned over the console. 

“I didn’t do anything, I just sat down.”

He was right. He hadn’t done anything else. She studied the seat, the armrest with its gelatinous pads at the end, and then she froze. “Of course.” The pads now glowed blue. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Of what?” Jack scrunched his brows.

“Neural interface.” Excitement shot through her. This technology was so much more advanced than she could have hoped. If they managed to figure out how it worked, they’d gain a major advantage over the Aschen. She caught Jack’s quizzical look. “That means the ship’s directly linked to your brain, sir. You control it with your thoughts.”

“Swell.” He still didn’t look convinced. “So why didn’t it work when Daniel sat down? Or you?”

Good question. “I don’t know. Maybe it was broken. I replaced some of the crystals earlier, so maybe I did fix it without realizing it.”

Daniel leaned in. “We should see if we can fly it.”

Sam studied the controls and flickering lights, then nodded. “I don’t see why not. But we should first test if I’m right. Sir, why don’t you try deactivating the cloak?”

“Okay, how?”

“Just think it, Jack.” Daniel’s voice dripped impatience. “Concentrate on it.”

Sam stifled a smile. Just the right person to say that to. Jack stared at Daniel, then closed his eyes, apparently putting effort into trying to de-cloak the ship. She hurried down the ramp outside. Then she turned. “Nothing happened. It’s still cloaked.”

From the inside, she heard Jack’s defensive tone. “Hey, I’m trying.” Another moment of silence. Then the forest in front of her flickered and the ship appeared out of nowhere.

“It’s working, sir, you de-cloaked it.” She hurried back inside. Now that they’d de-cloaked, they were sitting ducks. “You might wanna enable it again, now that we know it works.”

 

***

 

Jack groaned. “This is harder than it looks.” It was. Way harder. He focused his mind. _Cloak. Cloak. Cloak you damn thing._

Suddenly there was an undercurrent in his mind, almost like an internal dialogue happening on an intuitive level. Vague, and only there if he concentrated hard.

_Cloak engaged…_

_Okay, close the door._

The hatch hummed closed, then locked with an audible click. This was easy.

“Let’s see if I can get this baby up in the air.”

He’d barely finishing speaking when the engines started. Low vibrations hummed under his feet, through his seat. Then the ground disappeared as the ship lifted through the tree crowns.

“Wow.” Sam leaned forward, her hands on the panel as she looked out of the window.

The forest floor grew smaller under them. Twenty feet, thirty feet, forty feet. Jack swallowed hard. An unpleasant tingly feeling spread through his stomach at the height.

“Um, sir.” Sam’s voice shook. “Be careful not to crash us back down. At this height we’d end up smashed—”

“I know. Doing my best.” He flinched. The ship took a sharp left turn. Daniel and Sam stumbled and crashed against the wall.

  1. Jack closed his eyes. He had to focus. Actually flying this thing required much more concentration than closing the door or cloaking and de-cloaking. Information flooded his mind.



_All systems full power._

_Life support engaged._

_Dampeners at full capacity._

_Artificial gravity enabled._

_Velocity 300m/ph._

Too much. Way too much. Artificial gravity? Dampeners? Did they need those? _Ship, disengage dampeners._

Okay, so they probably needed those. He glanced left, and the ship took another sharp left turn. Sam stumbled against his chair.

“Jack.” Daniel glared at him.

“Sorry. I swear I’m trying my best here.” _Okay, focus on what’s important._ Speed. Outer atmosphere and winds. Fly steady.

They gained speed, racing over the tree tops. The world below flew by. Sam leaned forward to look outside as if not believing her eyes.

“This is incredible. At this velocity, the G-forces should press us against the back wall, but I don’t even feel it. The dampeners are beyond anything we’ve ever seen before, and that includes Aschen machinery.” Her eyes gleamed as she looked at him.

Damn, why was he piloting the ship again? She’d be so much more qualified. She’d probably know what all these different measurements meant.

“Shouldn’t we, um, talk about where to go?” Daniel sat down in the co-pilot’s chair.

“I was thinking we just dial the gate and fly home.” Jack shrugged, keeping his eyes fixated on the blue sky in front of them. Daniel and Sam gave him wide-eyed stares.

“Jack, do you think it’s a wise move to risk flying this ship right into the hands of the Aschen in Powhatan?”

“No, he’s right.” Sam straightened. “With the engaged cloak, the Aschen won’t even be able to see us come through. They’d only see an open event horizon. This might actually work. We could fly the ship from Powhatan back to the camp at Antarctica.”

“Okay.” Daniel leaned back and folded his arms. “Then there’s just one problem left. How do you wanna fly this ship through the gate?”

In the distance, the gate drew closer.

“Didn’t you say there was a dialing device in here? If they had a dialing device, then this ship was meant to travel through the gate.” Jack turned his head to look at Sam. “Right?”

She swallowed visibly. “That’s a valid assumption, sir.”

“Daniel, you might wanna start dialing Earth.”

Daniel gulped, then dialed the coordinates. In the distance the pool of the event horizon formed.

“Sir, you have to slow down.” Sam placed her hand on his shoulder. “If you miss the event horizon and crash the ship into the gate—which, at our current velocity, is more than just a vague hypothesis—”

“I know. I’m trying.” He grimaced. “Just relax, sit back… enjoy the ride…” Slowing down. Easier said than done. The gate was damn small, and this felt like threading the needle. The bright blue splash raced toward them.

Sam’s fingers clenched his shoulder. Daniel squeezed his eyes shut. Oh, yeah. Damn. They were gonna crash.

Suddenly the ship took over. Jack felt the controls slipping away from him as though some kind of auto-pilot had set in.

_Thrusters retracted._

_Velocity matched._

_Angle of entry calculated. Set._

They entered the event horizon. The next second, the familiar green grass of Liberty Park shimmered under them and the crystal towers of Powhatan City rose in the distance.

_Transfer completed. Air quality, excellent. Atmosphere can sustain carbon-based lifeforms._

“Well, that was different.” Jack stared at the controls in front of him.

Sam leaned forward again. “Oh my God. We made it.”

“You had doubts?” Jack gave her a smug smirk and she smiled softly. His heart jumped.

“We did?” Daniel opened one of his eyes. “I was sure we’d crash.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” Even though he couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of his voice, he had to admit he’d also thought they’d crash. “To be honest, it wasn’t me.” He waved at the controls. “I can’t explain it, but before we passed through, something like an autopilot took over the ship.”

“That would make sense, sir.” Sam glanced at him. “If Daniel’s right, and the Ancients _did_ built the Stargates, these kinds of ships might have been designed specifically for gate travel. They would have to have an automated program to make sure passing through the gate doesn’t end in an accident.”

“Jack, do you realize what kind of options this opens up to us now?” Daniel jumped up.

“At the moment, I’m kinda busy focusing on getting us home. Really, it’s not as easy as it looks.”

“You’re doing a great job, sir.” Sam’s breath hitched audibly when they flew out across the ocean. “I’ve never seen the ocean from this angle.”

Jack leaned forward. Sunlight reflected on the water, making the waves sparkle like a million diamonds as they raced over the surface. Not even a shadow from their ship was visible. _That’s one kickass cloak._   Daniel was right, this would open up whole new possibilities. Not just for off-world exploration, but also for on-world missions.

 

***

 

When they landed in Antarctica roughly two hours after traveling through the gate, Sam’s scientific fascination faded. They were home. Shadows settled over her mind. She would finally get to have a shower.

As soon as Jack de-cloaked the ship, camp members started to approach. When McKay and the other scientists arrived, questions became very technical.

She slid out of the ship and past the crowd before anybody could turn to her for answers. They’d made it back home. She should be happy, and yet… Emptiness numbed her. She’d lost Jack on that planet. No, worse than that. She’d lost part of herself.

When she turned on the cold water in the shower and washed the remnants of the oils from her skin, she wished the stream would take her memories with it.

If only she could forget.


	31. Always

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> Also, this version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

Jack raised his eyebrows, standing at the entrance of his personal tent and looking at his sleeping bag. There she was, lying on her side with her back to him. Well, that was unexpected. After she’d sneaked away without a word, he’d expected her to sleep in her own tent tonight. She’d acted as though she wanted nothing to do with him, and he had given her some space.

Relief flooded him at the sight of her. Whatever was going on, at least her presence meant that she didn’t want him out of her life.

He pulled off his shirt and pants, and slipped into the sleeping bag next to her. She didn’t make any move to cuddle up to him as she usually did. Why would she possibly be mad at him? He’d done nothing wrong.

If this was about him snapping at her, he sure as hell wasn’t gonna apologize for that. They’d agreed she’d treat him as her commanding officer in the field.

Her breathing told him she was still awake. His jaw clenched. Fine, if she wanted him to think she was asleep, he’d leave her in peace. Why was she even here though? She could have slept in her own tent to keep her distance.

He turned and looked at the back of her head. Okay, this was ridiculous. Whatever it was, they needed to talk about it so they could fix it. Jack turned over on his side and pulled her against his chest. No reluctance on her part. He wrapped one arm around her waist.

“I know you’re not asleep.”

She remained quiet. Her fingers brushed over his arm, tenderly caressing.

He held his breath. Her touch didn’t indicate she was mad at him. What the hell was going on?

“Can we talk about what happened, or are you gonna snap at me again?” He smirked against her cheek and placed a gentle kiss right under her ear.

She shook against him, and her breath hitched. His heart froze. She was crying.

Okay. That was new. And frightening. Carter didn’t cry. Not even the whole marriage contract fiasco had made her do that. She acted her pain out in hostility or aggression. But not tears.

He swallowed hard and dropped a kiss on her shoulder. She leaned back into him. At least she accepted the comfort he offered. It was a start. Her fingers enlaced with his.

He kept his voice gentle. “What’s going on?”

For the longest time she didn’t answer him. At last, her weak, trembling voice broke the silence. “I’m sorry.”

He stared at her. She was sorry. Alright. He could accept that. No need for such an extreme reaction, though. This had to be about more than their argument in the ship. Her voice had been layered with something that went beyond their petty fight from the day before.

At least, she was talking to him. Progress that he didn’t want to interrupt.

“I want to stop feeling weak, and I don’t know how. I’m so fixated on proving I can be strong on my own that I don’t allow myself to rely on anybody.” Her voice shook.  

“Sam.” Jack nuzzled her neck. Damn, he hadn’t meant to hurt her. How the hell had that even happened? “We were on edge and we both overreacted. What I said…I didn’t mean that.”

“No.” She shook her head. “You were right.”

He raised his eyebrows. He was _right_?

“I _am_ scared of making a mistake or doing something else that would cause you to take me out of the field. I didn’t mean to start a fight yesterday. I just...” She trailed off.

Jack released a long sigh and placed a gentle kiss on her neck, inhaling her sweet scent. Shower soap. Fresh and feminine. Her body started shaking. God. His heart wrenched.

“C’mere.” He turned her and pulled her against his chest.

Holding her against him, he buried his face in her neck and listened to the occasional hitch in her breath. She was breaking apart. His stomach clenched. _I want to stop feeling weak, and I don’t know how,_ she’d said _._ But why?

He withdrew and brushed his thumb over her cheek, then buried his fingers in her hair and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. “You wanna tell me what made you feel so weak?”

She closed her eyes. His eyebrows climbed. Shame? Disgust? When she tried to hide her face against his shoulder, his stomach knotted. Had she lied to him about…?

“What happened between you and Ba’al?” She went rigid in his arms. Damn, he was onto something there. He held his breath. “Sam?”

“I kissed him and I let him…”

“Let him what?” He didn’t dare move.

“Touch me. I asked for his touch. And I reacted to him. I swear I didn’t want him. I don’t know why… how… I didn’t mean to…” Her arms tightened around him. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

 

***

 

Sam dug her nails into her palms, blood rushing in her ears. She’d lose him, wouldn’t she? The secret was out. Throat tight, she pressed her face against the hollow of his collarbone.

“It’s okay.” His words washed warm over her head as he placed a kiss against her hair. “You don’t have to apologize.”

“Yes, I do.” She swallowed hard and lifted her head. “I responded to him. My body…I…I…”

Jack leaned in, his forehead touching hers as his fingers brushed through her hair with a tenderness that staggered her.

“Why?” His hand brushed the hair away from her face. She raised her eyebrows. “Why did you let him touch you?”

“He chained me down and threatened to kill you and Daniel.” She closed her eyes when the scene flashed through her mind again. So vivid. So real. “I thought if I played along and did it convincingly, I might get him to release me.” Her stomach roiled as embarrassment threatened to overwhelm her. “I asked for his touch.”

Jack didn’t allow her to pull away. “To me it sounds like you made the best out of a very bad situation. You came up with a strategy to free yourself. And us, I might add. You did what was necessary given the situation.”

“But I—”

“I’d hardly call anything that happened with him voluntary. Least of all your participation in it. I’ll make sure to give the guy a good old ass-kicking next time we meet him.”

She lifted her head. Grim darkness filled his eyes.

His thumb brushed over the wet trails on her cheek. “Why didn’t you talk to me?”

“I…” She shook her head and swallowed hard. “I didn’t know… When you looked at me yesterday, I thought…”

Jack brushed a strand of hair away from her forehead. “What?”

“I’m a soldier. Something like that shouldn’t happen to me. I shouldn’t feel so helpless, so exposed after what he did. I was scared that once you learned, you’d take me off the team. It wouldn’t have happened in the first place if I were a man. If I can’t even keep it together in a situation like that…” She inhaled deeply. “I thought, you wouldn’t want to be with me anymore.”

Jack’s eyebrows climbed, his hands brushing up and down her sides. “Carter, for cryin’ out loud.” His mutter tingled her hairline. “You don’t have to prove yourself anymore. You’ve been part of the team for over half a year now. So what, some jackass defeated you for a moment. Which he needed restraints for, by the way.”

Sam chuckled at the wryness in his tone. He was a good man. Much better than she deserved.

Jack’s lips twitched into a smirk. “It doesn’t change my opinion of you in any way. And for the record, I’m glad you’re a woman. And by that I mean really, really glad.” 

A laugh bubbled up, and she smiled against his lips when he took her mouth in a sweet kiss. Her hands cupped his cheeks to hold him close.

“We gotta work on your trust issues.” Jack brushed the tip of his nose against hers. “You gotta rely on your team, and that includes confiding in us. Stop fighting on two fronts, ‘cause otherwise you’ll lose both fights. Or worse, get yourself, and maybe someone else, killed out there.”

He nuzzled the short hair near her ear and then buried his face against her neck. Sam brushed her fingers through his hair. Warmth. Tenderness. Heat flooded her when his hands ran across her back. 

Jack pressed a kiss to her neck, then looked into her eyes. “Rely on me. In the field, I depend on you to have my back, so if I screw up, you’ll step in. I need you to let me do the same for you. Don’t get hostile when I try to protect you.”

“You’re right.” Her lips met his, trembling. “I didn’t mean to snap at you back in the ship. I need you.”

He stared at her as if entirely thrown back by her admission. Fear returned and she swallowed hard.

“I need you so much.” She closed her eyes. “I joined the resistance to become independent and strong. Now I’m dependent on you, and that’s scary.”

Jack released a deep breath, and ran his hand through her hair. Then he buried his face in her neck again, holding her and allowing her to fall against him. If only he didn’t make relying on him so easy. If only he didn’t feel so safe and strong.

“Carter, you’re one of the most creative, resilient soldiers I’ve ever worked with. Depending on someone doesn’t make you weak. It shows you’re strong enough to acknowledge you can’t make it on your own. It makes you stronger.” When she shifted to look at him, Jack shrugged. “You think I’m weak?”

“No.” She shook her head. “But that’s different.”

“Why?” His eyebrows rose.

“Well, you’re a… I’m a…” She faltered.

“A woman?” He scrunched his brows.

“Yeah.”

“Now who’s discriminating?” He released a chuckle. “I’ve never considered you weaker or less capable because you’re a woman. But apparently you do.”

She stared at him.

His lips tugged into a smirk again. “Daniel would call that internalized…something.”

He was right. God, all this time she’d been so fixated on never appearing weak. He’d never treated her different from the guys, but she’d assumed he would. Still…

“But what happened with Ba’al on the last mission would’ve never happened to you. Or Colonel Sheppard, or Daniel.”

“No, you’re right. It wouldn’t have. If I’d had Sheppard on SG-1 instead of you, we’d probably still be rotting in that cell.” He cleared his throat. “That doesn’t mean I’m happy about what happened.”

She widened her eyes. He had a point. _Because_ she was a woman they’d gotten out. Not in spite of it.

“Carter, if you hadn’t opened our cell and found a way out, he’d have probably killed us. You made use of the enemy’s weakness. If that’s not the mindset of a soldier, I don’t know what is.”

The mindset of a soldier. She winced and closed her eyes. If she actually had that, surely she’d have been able to shoot Ba’al when she had the chance. “I let him get to me. I had the opportunity…” She swallowed hard. “I could’ve killed him. He was unconscious, and all it would’ve taken was a second shot with the lightening gun, but I couldn’t do it. What kind of soldier can’t kill an enemy when faced with such an opportunity?”

“Being able to kill an unarmed, defenseless man doesn’t classify you as a good soldier. You should know that by now. There’s no honor, and definitely no courage in killing.”

“You wouldn’t have hesitated.”

“No, but I also said killing comes easier to me than it does to most people. Which doesn’t necessarily speak for my character.” His thumb brushed over her cheek. “Next time we run into Ba’al, I’ll hold him for you and you can take your anger out on him. Before I shoot him.”

The tension inside her evaporated in a burst of laughter. She wiped her cheek with the back of her hand. “Well, I beat him up before I shot him with the Zat’nik’tel, so hopefully he’ll think twice about touching me again.”

“Zat… what?” He gave her a blank stare.

“Oh, Zat’nik’tel. That’s the actual name for the lightening gun. Ba’al used it. I’ll put it in my report.” She brushed her thumb over his cheek in a tender caress.

“Oh. McKay’s gonna be disappointed after he fought so hard with Sheppard over naming it _lightning gun_.” He smirked. “Zat…what? You know, we gotta find a shorter version for that. How about zat-gun?”

She laughed. “That’ll work.”

“I’m gonna have to put you on a day of sanitary duty for the insubordination in the ship. If you want to yell at me, fine. But not on duty, and definitely not in front of another team member in the field.”

She nodded with a smile. “Yes, sir. I know it was out of line going off on you like that.”

His hand moved across her waist and traced the outline of her hips, his fingers tickling her gently. Heat shot through her abdomen. His eyes darkened. Smiling, Sam pushed him on his back and leaned over him. “There’s one thing I was scared of when I was with Ba’al.”

“What’s that?” Jack’s hands kept trailing lazy paths over her skin, outlining her curves.

“I…” Well, this was awkward. Her cheeks warmed. How the hell should she phrase this without it coming across as odd? She bit her lower lip, not daring to look at him. “This is stupid really.”

“Sam.” He nuzzled her neck and placed a ticklish kiss on her sensitive skin. “Spill it.”

She raked her fingers through his hair, holding him close. “I kept thinking that…I didn’t want him to be my first. I didn’t want him at all, but that made it worse. I want to have that with you.” He stilled against her, and she took a shaky breath. His eyes darkened when he leaned back, his gaze grazing along her lips and further down.

When he leaned up to take her lips, his tongue flicked out to tease them before darting into her mouth. She opened for him. His kiss created an undeniable need, and the ease with which her body responded amazed and unsettled her at the same time. So different from the day before…

She arched her neck when he trailed searing kisses down along her chin and throat. His hot breath left goose bumps all across her skin.

At last, Jack turned her so she was lying on her back by his side. “Show me where he touched you.”

She stared up at him.

His face gentled. He traced her arm with his fingers until he reached her hand. “With your hand. Show me what he did. No words, okay?”

Her cheeks flared, but she nodded. No talking… That should be fine, although touching herself in front of another person was equally unsettling. She grazed her fingertips down along the valley between her breasts, over her ribcage, following the same path Ba’al had taken. Images washed over her as she remembered his warm, somewhat slippery hands.

Her breath hitched and her eyes snapped open when a warm hand followed hers. Warm, ticklish, almost electrifying. So different. She held Jack’s gaze, then smiled when he grazed a ticklish spot at her waist. 

His fingers followed hers down to her belly button, never faltering or touching anywhere else than where she indicated. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. His touch offered such a sweet redemption, her shame and disgust melted in the sheer heat of arousal.

She rested her hand above the hem of her panties and cleared her throat. “Then he—”

He put his finger against her mouth. “Shhh. Show me.”

Shifting slightly, she ran her now trembling fingers under the waistband of her panties, then further down in between her legs. Her breath caught when his hand followed the same path. She brushed her fingers along her folds. Her cheeks warmed and she couldn’t help turning her head to hide her face against his shoulder. “This is awkward.”

Chuckling, he leaned in to nibble her earlobe. She sighed when need coiled in her belly. His calloused fingers brushed her mound, lingered, caressed ever so lightly, before he dropped them lower.

She clutched his arm. “Oh, God.”

“Did it feel like this?” His deep rasp made her quiver. Before she could answer, he captured her mouth with his in a quick kiss and repeated the move, swallowing her moan.  

“No.” Sam cupped his cheek, staring up into his deep, dark eyes. “He was rough and…oh, God.” His thumb slid directly over her clit, then began rubbing in circles. Her fingers dug into his arm. “Jack.”

God, how could he know her body so well? Within moments, she was hovering at the brink of intense pleasure. Was her arousal coming too easy?

Pressure built. Built. And then fireworks exploded in her core and washed over her in waves. So quick. So unexpected.

Sam sighed against his chin, her hips writhing in perfect sync with the movements of his hand. She let her head drop to the pillow and stared up into his eyes. She wanted to drown in their dark depths.

“Did he make you feel like this?”

His voice reached her through a haze of passion, and she shook her head, panting. “No, not even close.”

“You know why?” He kissed a warm trail from her ear, down along the curve of her neck and shoulder. “He was the one who lost control, not you. You controlled how far you let him in. He never got past that. Not even when you faked participation.”

She froze. He was right. It’d been her decision to participate for the sake of tricking Ba’al, but she’d never really wanted to sleep with him. She hadn’t enjoyed him, she’d enjoyed the brief illusion of Jack. Ba’al hadn’t aroused her. Her own thoughts had.

She covered her eyes and gave a breathless laugh. The answer had been so easy. She should have seen it.

Jack smirked against her cheek. “Better now?”

She turned her head and captured his lips in a deep, warm kiss. She allowed herself to savor his lips, trail her tongue across his. Minty. Fresh. Like him. So addictive.

His eyes gleamed when he broke contact. “You know, I was wondering...” His expression remained blank except for that impish sparkle in his eyes. “Next time we’re in town, we should get you one of those little bikini outfits. Like the one you were wearing before.”

She raised her eyebrows, then let her lips graze along his chin. He groaned. Encouraged by his reaction, she pushed him on his back and straddled his hips. “Jack, are you telling me you liked it when I looked like a slave?”

“Like it?” His voice did a little hitch. “That was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. Just the outfit. Not the slave part.” His hands wandered down her back to her behind, and then he pressed her hot core against him.

Her breath caught when she felt the unmistakable evidence of his arousal. Well, she’d asked him to be her first, so why wait? When she trailed her fingers down along his abdomen, his hands caught her wrists.

“Jack.” She leaned down, but when he lifted his head to claim her mouth, she kept her lips an inch away, never touching. “Take me. Please.”

He groaned again, more urgently. When he pulled her close and rolled them over, she brought her knees up to his hips, caressing his sides with her inner thighs. He kissed her hard and deep, his thumb brushing across her cheek. “Not here. Not tonight. Why don’t we get out of here for a few days?”

“What?” She rocked her hips against his, his heat searing through their clothing.

“Let’s go to my cabin. Just the two of us. Two, maybe three days.”

Sam scrunched her brows. “But what about work and camp? What about the missions? I have a few experiments scheduled with—”

“Mitchell and Sheppard can take over for a few days. And I’m sure McKay can handle the experiments without you, or postpone them if necessary. You worked throughout most of the polar night when all the others took time off to be with their families. You’re way behind on vacation time.”

She tilted her head. He made it sound so simple. She could already picture the annoyed expression on McKay’s face if she backed out of their scheduled experiments now.

A playful, seductive twinkle touched Jack’s eyes. “Come on, Carter, do you really wanna miss out on the lake, the fishing, the star-gazing.” He leaned in to her ear. “The sex.”

Her pulse sped up. Definitely more exciting than her experiments. “That _does_ sound intriguing.”

He gave her a crooked smile. Her stomach flip-flopped. He had the sexiest smile she’d ever seen. “We’ll leave first thing in the morning. Pack whatever you need for three days. I’ll take care of food and everything else.”

He pecked a kiss on her nose and rolled over to lie on his back, then pulled her close. Sam snuggled up to him, content. Three days alone with him in his cabin. That did sound good.

“Jack, thank you.”

“For what?”

“Not letting me pull away.” She nuzzled his neck, and he buried his face in her hair.

“Always.”

 

***

 

The door of the ‘puddle jumper’—as they’d named their new ship after much discussion between McKay and Sheppard—lowered with a hum. Sam stared at the field that opened up in front of her. Tall grass, lush deciduous trees, and in the middle of it all a little wood cabin with small windows.

“Oh my God.” Inhaling the grassy, warm air, she left the ship.

Jack stepped up behind her, and wrapped his arms around her waist to rest his chin on her shoulder. “Like it?”

“This is the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen.”

He chuckled and kissed her neck. “Told you. You should have come with during polar night.”

Behind them, Sheppard stepped out of the jumper, a box in his hand. “Where do you want me to put these?”

“Just leave them in front of the door. I’ll take them in later.”

Sam raised her eyebrows at the boxes. “You sure you didn’t over-pack?”

Smirking, Jack released her. “Food, beer, water, blankets. Just basic stuff we need. I keep little up here. Most of it would spoil.” He opened one of the boxes and held a cold beer out to her.

“Trying to get me drunk?”

He glanced up, an amused sparkle in his eyes. “Oh, don’t get your hopes up, Carter. I plan on you being fully sober throughout everything we do.”

Her heart jumped. Warmth spread in her abdomen, while at the same time, her stomach tightened. Sex. She’d actually do it. She took the beer from him.

Jack handed another bottle to Sheppard when he returned, but the other colonel refused.

“No thanks. I wanna get back as soon as possible. You know how badly Rodney wants this ship back to play with its internal circuits. Since only you or I can fly it, I’ll have a long day ahead of me.”

Sam smiled and took a sip of beer. The bitter liquid prickled cool down her throat. That morning, when Jack had announced he’d borrow their new ship, he’d nearly started a revolt at the science camp. McKay had been unwilling to let the ship go for three days.

Luckily for Jack, the first examination from the day before had revealed Sheppard could also pilot the vessel. More than that, he seemed to have a natural talent for the technology.

“You can look around, you know?”

Sam looked up with raised brows.

Jack waved towards the forest. “About a hundred meters through those trees is a little lake. And there’s a pond behind the cabin.”

“Can I go inside?”

Smirking, he fumbled around in his pockets to pull out the keys. She caught them as he threw them to her.

“The large key in the middle. Leave the boxes where they are. I’ll take care of them.”

“ _Yessir._ ” She gave him a cheeky grin when he scrunched his brows.

She walked towards the front door and unlocked it. When she entered the cabin, amazement flooded her. This was so much more comfortable than she’d imagined. Well, Jack had said that this was his home away from camp, so she had expected more than just basics. She took a deep breath and inhaled the wooden and cool scent. _The typical smell of a house that’s been vacated for some time._

The living area offered a large comfortable couch, a bookshelf and a fireplace in the corner. A few steps led up into a small kitchen that held the basics. A stove. A fridge. A table. All powered by a generator, that much Jack had told her on their way here.

Apparently he paid an older woman from a nearby town to keep everything in order and come by every two weeks to clean the house of dust.

She strolled along a small corridor, barely two meters long and opened the smaller door at the end. _Wow!_ A small bathroom with a tiled shower installation, and even glass walls surrounding it. Compared to their showers at camp, this was the height of luxury.

When she heard footsteps behind her, she turned. “Does this shower have warm water?”

Jack put the box he carried down in the kitchen. “Yeah, but you’ll have to wait an hour or two. I just turned on the generator. It takes a while for the water to heat up.”

Sheppard peeked in the door. “All right, that’s all. I’ll take off if you don’t need anything else.”

“No, we’ll be fine.” Jack clapped his shoulder. “Just remember to pick us up in three days. I’d hate to travel all the way back to camp the conventional way.”

Sheppard grinned. “I’ll probably have to fight McKay for the jumper. You two have fun.” He winked at Sam.

Her cheeks flushed. God, he knew exactly what they were gonna do, didn’t he? Probably everybody at camp did. She flinched.

Jack raised his eyebrows. “You okay?”

“Yeah. They know, don’t they? Why we came up here?”

He smirked and pulled her close against the hard planes of his chest. “Why do you think I wanted to get away? I want you to be as relaxed as possible, without schedules, gossip, and thin tent walls to worry about.”

“Tent walls?” She frowned. What did the tents have to do with it?

“I fully intend to make you scream for me.” His deep rasp sent pleasant shivers down her spine. Right. Thin tent walls would be bad for that. Wait, what? Scream? She swallowed when need stabbed at her.

A low hum from outside told her Sheppard was taking off in the puddle jumper.   

“Come on.” Jack enlaced their fingers. “I’m sure you haven’t seen the best part yet.”

He led her down the stairs to the living area, then to the corner behind the bookshelf. Another door. She hadn’t even seen that. He opened it.

Sam held her breath as she entered. A king sized bed. A real bed, covered with dark blue and black sheets. Matching curtains framed the two windows, one right above the head of the bed, the other one on the wall to its left. A large wardrobe with a mirror stood against the wall opposite the windows.

The room was small, and yet much more luxurious than the outside of the cabin indicated. This was way better than she’d imagined. How long had it been since she slept in a real bed, with an actual mattress under her?

“Wow. This is great.”

Jack brushed his mouth against her neck. “Are you hungry?” He nodded towards the kitchen. “Cause I brought steaks...”

She gave him a bright smile. “I’d love that.” Steaks. After months of eating the rationed and limited choice of food at camp, that sounded like a feast. “Last time I had steak was at O’Malley’s over a month ago.”

“Wait until you taste mine.” He turned with a grin. “There’s a special secret ingredient.”

“In steaks?” She laughed and followed him.

“Wait and see.”

“It’s beer, isn’t it?” She picked up one of the boxes from outside and took them into the kitchen without ever getting an answer from him.

When Jack fired up a small grill out on the porch, Sam plopped down on the couch and looked around. Three days. Alone. With Jack. In this cozy, comfortable little cabin. This had to be heaven on Earth.


	32. The Way You Love Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> Also, this version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

Sam shifted and wrapped her arms around herself as she looked out the window. Serene silence all around. No human soul for miles. Just them. Her stomach tingled, a combination of excitement and nervousness. She swallowed hard.

“You want a beer?”

When she nodded, Jack walked up to the fridge and opened it. He hadn’t exaggerated about his dinner. The steaks had been delicious. After eating, they’d cleaned up together and stacked the supplies from the boxes away.

Sam cleaned the last plate and put it back on the shelf where it belonged. When she turned around, Jack handed her a beer. Her smile shook as she took it. “Thank you.”

“You okay?”

Damn, was her tension that obvious? She winced inwardly. She didn’t want to give him the feeling she was uncomfortable. For the first time they were alone, and they had three days all to themselves. They’d have sex. Her stomach tightened, and she took a hasty sip of her beer. “Yeah… good.”

His eyes gleamed as he approached her and leaned in. “Relax, Carter, I’m not gonna pounce on you.” His warm breath tickled her ear.

Sam gulped and stared at him. “What?”

“You look as though we were trapped in some kind of Goa’uld facility with a herd of angry Jaffa chasing us.” His hand trailed across the side of her waist, his gaze fixed on her face. When she stared at him, he smirked. “I think _tense_ is the right word?”

“I’m not tense.” _Yeah, right._ She willed herself to relax and tried to put on a nonchalant smile. As she took another sip from the beer, her fingers clenched around the bottle too tight.

“Sam.” The kiss he placed on her neck sent pleasant shivers throughout her body. “We don’t have to do anything you’re not ready for. We can just, ya know, sit. Talk. Do some fishing, or—”

“No.” Subtle. She cleared her throat. “I want to be with you.”

He pulled her close, claiming her lips in a sweet kiss. Heat stabbed at her core. Yes, she wanted him. Granted, she also wanted to get this first time sex thing out of the way, but her body reminded her it was more than that. When he broke contact, his dark gaze made her head swim, and she bit her lower lip. His taste still lingered. She stepped closer into his space, his warmth caressing her skin.

Jack took her hand and drew her with him to the couch facing the window front in the living room. He dropped down into the soft cushions and pulled her down next to him. “C’mere.”

As he moved his arm around her, she leaned against him, resting her head against his shoulder. Beers in their hands, they looked out the window. The pond behind the house lay peaceful and calm. There couldn’t be much wind, judging from the absence of ripples on the water. Sam took a sip of beer and relaxed when the cold liquid prickled down her throat.

Being with him was so easy. And they seemed to be so in tune. Almost as if there was a silent understanding between them. Maybe it was the months they’d spent working together in the field. This was new, but definitely an exciting feeling. 

Her stomach flip-flopped. No camp members would disturb them during the next days. He had no meetings to attend, she had no experiments scheduled. They could just live for each day and take it easy.

His hand drew lazy circles on her upper arm, then his finger grazed her skin in a tingling caress. Goosebumps danced down her arms. Sex. She would actually have sex with him. If only the thought didn’t make her so nervous.

What was there to worry about? Even though Aschen laws forbade humans from having sex before their fertility tests, she’d read a lot of books about human physiology, the sexual act and biological reasons behind it. In those books it’d seemed so easy—not like such a big deal. Granted, it said the first time might hurt, but so what? It couldn’t hurt more than being beaten up in a fist fight.

Bad example. Sam flinched and gulped some more beer down. She rarely felt vulnerable in a fist fight, and she wasn’t naked in those. Her cheeks warmed. God, why did she have to think about this so much? Other women did it too, and they seemed to enjoy it. It couldn’t be that bad.

She sneaked a glance at Jack and remembered what Vala’d told her. Jack had been with many women, so he’d know how to do it right. According to Vala, that would be an advantage. Yeah. Great. That made him all the more qualified to notice her inexperience and awkwardness.

And if all his previous lovers had been like Kerry… She flinched. Self-confident, experienced, knowing what they expected and liked from a man, and not afraid to go after it. Why couldn’t she be more like Kerry?

“Carter.” Jack’s warm breath caressed her hair and Sam raised her eyebrows.

“Mmh?”

“I can hear your wheels turn. You’re overthinking, aren’t you?”

Damn. “Sorry.” She needed to get her mind off things somehow. But how? She shifted to look at him. “Do you mind if I take a shower? I’ve been dying to do that since I realized there’s warm water here.”

“Sure.” He brushed his lips over hers. She released a shaky breath and opened her mouth, but the kiss didn’t last nearly long enough. “I’ll be waiting here.” His hand grazed hers as he let her go.

When she walked out of the room, she felt his gaze lingering on her back, sending pleasant shivers down her spine.

The shower soothed and exhilarated her. How long had she not been able to enjoy the luxury of hot water? She closed her eyes as the warm stream hit her face, then ran in currants down her neck and over her breasts.

She took time for personal hygiene and shampooed her hair with the nice smelling lemon shampoo Janet always ordered for them when they were off-duty. When she was done, she pulled on her panties and tank top, and then opted for a plain black shirt to wear over it.

Why bother to dress? She was determined to be out of those clothes again very soon anyway. When she stepped back into the living area on bare feet, Jack still sat on the couch as he had promised. When he trailed his gaze down to her bare legs, he swallowed visibly.

She smiled. “Enjoying the view?” She placed a lingering kiss on his lips as she kneeled on the couch next to him. His hand burned through her shirt.

“Always.” He grinned against her lips, and his unabashed admittance made her chuckle. She pulled her feet under her and snuggled up against him.

“Good shower?” His fingers tangled through her still damp hair.

“Mmm, you have no idea. We should hook up a heating unit to the shower at camp.”

“Yeah, there’d be no way to make people stick to the shower schedule anymore.” He took a sip of his beer. “Cold water proves to be an effective motivator to keep the shower short.”

“You’re such a soldier.” She leaned her head against his chest and looked outside. Ripples broke the calm of the water’s surface here and there, probably caused by sandpipers and other insects. “When did you buy this place?”

“After I started working in the Aschen Ministry. I intended it to be a personal getaway then, but I didn’t have much time for vacations. I only used it after I joined the resistance. It’s nice to have a home away from camp.” His hand drew lazy circles on her arm, sending warmth through her. He nuzzled her hair, then shifted and pulled her closer. “We can share it from now on.”

Sharing a home with him. The thought was strangely comforting. She moved her arm around his stomach, and nuzzled his chin. He smelled like grass, and the body wash he always used when he didn’t have missions scheduled. Now it mixed with the faint scent of grill smoke and burned steaks. She closed her eyes. Addictive and so uniquely him.

Suddenly, her skin buzzed with awareness of him. Every inch of his body burned through her shirt, the heat awakening her senses. When he moved his hand lower and caressed the sides of her waist in slow circles, her breath hitched.

She shifted, shaking as she leaned into the hard planes of his chest to brush her lips against his neck. He pressed her closer against him. Encouraged, Sam flicked her tongue out. His skin was warm, salty, spicy.

He put his beer on the small side table next to the couch. When he leaned back, she straddled his lap. So handsome, with those dark eyes, that tanned skin, the black shirt. Everything about him seemed to be dark. A kind of darkness that drew her in. Her fingers cupped his cheeks as she leaned in to brush her nose against his.

Her breath caught when his hot palms stroked along her bare thighs, halted right where her shirt began, and then traveled back down to play at the back of her knee. Tension built inside her, made her press her pelvis against his.

A thrill washed through her when he moved his hands under her shirt. She bit her lower lip, then leaned in to trail kisses down his neck. As she became more courageous teasing his skin, his hands moved up, seeking more and more skin. When he pressed her against him, the heat of his hands, of his body surrounded her. Throat dry, she lifted her head to look at him.

Arousal pooling between her legs, she leaned in to capture his lips. His mouth devoured, hers explored. Every stroke of his tongue seared her with need.

Panting, she finally broke away. Jack’s grip on her tightened. “Hold on.”

She did, and he turned them both, then tipped her over to lie on her back with his body covering hers. Her eyes widened at the sudden urgency in his movement, the intimate position, and the weight of his body on hers.

Only a moment later, he shifted to lie next to her. His hand resumed its lazy caresses, grazed down along her waist, over her hips. When his fingers trailed toward her naked thigh, she held her breath, craving his touch, needing it.

Lust flushed through her, leaving every nerve in her body tingling with expectation. “Jack…”

Her eyes fell closed when his fingers played at the hem of her shirt, then she drew a sharp breath when he pushed his hand under her top. So hot. And so sure in his touch. She whimpered.

God, he was still dressed…and she wasn’t. Well, almost wasn’t. Her fingers played at the hem of his shirt. She arched her neck, trying to close the distance between their lips. Their breaths mingled, but he didn’t allow contact. Until his finger grazed over her nipple.

Pleasure coiled in her belly. Another whimper bubbled up, but he swallowed it, his lips crushing hers in a relentless claim.

Fire. She was burning up. Panting, she pushed against his shoulders until he withdrew. She shifted so that her head lay on the pillow near the armrest.

Hand resting on her ribcage, he studied her a moment. “Wanna stop?”

“No.” No? “Yes.” Wait, what? “No… I… I’m not…” God, what was the matter with her? She reached up to the side table and took the bottle for a large gulp of beer.

Why couldn’t she just shut her overthinking brain off? During their first night at O’Malley’s she hadn’t had all these thoughts about the what-ifs and worst-case scenarios. Maybe if she recreated the conditions of that night… Just a bit more alcohol. She took another gulp from the bottle.

Jack raised his eyebrows. “Trying to get drunk?”

His fingers teased a trail along her belly and waist, his face blank. She winced and lifted the bottle to her lips again.

“Oookay.” Chuckling, he took the bottle away from her. “That’s enough. I promise you won’t need it.”

His voice a rasp in her ear, he placed the bottle back on the side table. As he lifted his head, her gaze met his. Eyes darkening, pupils dilating. Such gentleness. Her gaze dropped to his mouth, and her own lips parted. While their lips clashed in an unyielding kiss, she allowed her hands to roam over his body.

She traced the strong lines of muscles on his chest and stomach, then the sides of his hips. Up along his spine to his shoulder blades.

She quivered against him when his rough, calloused hands brushed over the bare skin of her stomach again. God, if only he’d put those hands back on more sensitive spots.

Gasping, she broke the kiss and her eyes closed. He trailed his lips in agonizingly soft caresses along the line of her jaw to her ear.

“I want you, Sam.”

Her hand traveled to the back of his neck while her body arched into him. How could he do this to her with only a few touches? She ran her fingers through his unruly hair. “I want you, too.”

Oh, God. Her stomach tightened again. She swallowed hard. “But I’m very nervous about… I mean, I don’t know…” She closed her eyes. Why could she never find the right words for these things?

“I know.” His chuckle reverberated low against her throat. “Don’t overthink. Trust me. It’s a piece of cake. Really. Don’t forget what I said.” His murmur seared hot against her ear. “I’ll have you scream for me.”

Oh, yes. She moaned. She’d heard women say sex had been so good they hadn’t been able to keep quiet.

“Why don’t we move this to the bedroom?” He placed another kiss right above her jugular, and shivers danced along her nerves.

“Okay.”

Shakily she shifted to sit up, but lost balance and almost fell backwards off the couch. Jack steadied her and pulled her firmly against him. Sam stifled a laugh into his neck. God, what an almost mishap.

She heard Jack’s chuckle against her ear. “Eager, are we?”

Laughing, she smacked his shoulder, and then sat up, more carefully this time. When she stood, she reached her hand out and pulled him up from the couch. She turned and took a step backwards towards the bedroom door, then faltered. Oh God, they were actually gonna do this?

Jack closed the distance between them, and his lips crushed hers again, devouring until she grew dizzy with his nearness. “Give me a moment to take a quick shower. No thinking.”

She stared at him hazily, his words slowly sinking in. Her fingers tightened around his wrist. “Don’t stop now.”

He smirked and leaned in. “Wasn’t gonna… Just give me about three minutes, and why don’t you…” Another searing and much-too-short kiss. “…get comfortable in the bedroom.” His heated whisper sent pleasant shivers down her spine. “No thinking. I’ll be right with you.”

\---

_**(Since many people prefer a less explicit version, I decided to make a shortened version that doesn't have the sex in it. If you want to read the unabridged version of this chapter, please[click here](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-chapter-32-way-love-unabridged/) and you'll be taken to my website. Careful! EXPLICIT! Please don't click if you're underage!)** _

\---

Much later, Jack covered their rapidly cooling bodies with one of the thin sheets lying at the foot of the bed. When he lay back against the pillows, Sam rested her head on his chest. Her fingers played through the hair shimmering almost silver in the soft moonlight leaking in through the windows.

She closed her eyes. “I like this.”

His fingers tangled in her hair, then he pulled her hand close to his mouth and placed a gentle kiss on her pulse point. “Me too.”

She shifted and looked at him, her chin resting on his shoulder. “Now I’m really glad we did it here, and not all those months ago at O’Malley’s.”

He smirked. “If I’d known who you were, there’s no way in hell I’d have stopped. I probably would have moved it up to one of the rooms for rent so we finished in an actual bed, though.”

She smiled and laid her cheek back down on his shoulder. “Very intriguing.”

“Not that I’m not open to other options.”

“Like up against a wall?”

“Yeah.” He raised his eyebrows, face blank. “Interested?”

“Definitely.” Okay, maybe that sounded a bit too eager. She cleared her throat. “I mean, I’ve kinda fantasized about that ever since.”

“Fantasies, huh?”

“Well…” Her cheeks warmed.

He chuckled and leaned in to her ear. “Whatever it is you wanna try, I’m sure I can get into it. Just tell me.” His rasp sent shivers dancing down her spine.

He was a good man, kind and sweet. And he had an amazing sense of humor. He was so passionate… She grazed her fingers along his cheek, then through the hair at his temple.

His gaze softened, and he imitated her action. “I like what you’ve done with your hair.” His fingers tangled in her short strands.

She swallowed. “Really? I thought you’d rather I had long hair.”

“What gave you that impression?”

“You were complaining to my dad that I was supposed to have long hair, and I thought—”

He smirked again. “You misunderstood that. I like you with this hair. It’s you. It’s hot. You’re just very different from the description your father gave me. Which is a good thing.” He drew her into a warm open-mouthed kiss. “I wouldn’t want to change a thing about you.”

 

***

 

Jack swallowed hard. That had sounded deeply affectionate. And yet, the undeniable truth of it resonated through every fiber of his being. “We should sleep a bit. You need your strength for tomorrow.”

She beamed at him, then leaned in to trap his lower lip between her teeth and kiss him. “So do you.”

Damn, but she was a quick study. If her creativity and learning abilities during camp training were any indication, he was in for an interesting ride.


	33. After The Rain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> This version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).

Sam shivered and curled up under the blanket when a cool breeze hit her bare thighs. She yawned and turned onto her back, blinking her eyes open. Jack was gone, but his scent still lingered on the sheets. Warm sunbeams danced around the room to the rhythm of the shifting curtains.

Petrichor, the fresh and earthy scent after the rain, permeated the air. Birds warbled a cheerful song, one chirping right in front of the open window. She turned her head when the curtain flapped in a stronger gust of wind.

Happiness surged through her at the memory of the previous night. She stretched, enjoying the relaxing pull in her muscles. What time was it? She turned her head to the window. If the sun was up that high…

It’d been a while since she’d slept that well. After another moment of reveling, she got up. The fresh breeze caressed her bare skin, leaving behind goose bumps. She hurried to pull on the shirt still lying on the chair in the corner.

The door of the bedroom creaked as she opened it. Sam peeked out into the living area, then walked barefooted across the wooden floor.

“Jack?”

No answer. The house lay absolutely quiet. She wrapped her arms around herself against another shiver. The porch door stood open. He’d probably gone outside. Scratching through her tousled hair, she went into the bathroom to brush her teeth. There’d be time for a shower later, and right now she was starving. Food. And coffee.

In the kitchen, the scent of fresh coffee hung in the air. Sam looked around and spotted a glass pot on the table. The dark liquid steamed as she opened the lid.

Coffee. She inhaled with a happy smile.

What a perfect morning. How long hadn’t she taken the time to enjoy a relaxing morning coffee anymore? At camp, she hardly ever had time for more than a rushed breakfast and a quick shower. There was always a schedule to follow, always somebody standing outside the bathhouse waiting to use it.

She ran her hand through her tousled hair in another futile attempt at taming the strands.

“Good morning.”

Heart pounding, she spun around to the porch door. Jack gave her a warm smile, then closed the door behind him.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”

She gave up the fight with her hair and returned his smile. “Good morning.”

Damn, but he looked good. Unruly hair, tanned skin and just the hint of a five o’clock shadow. Stains of dirt darkened his grey shirt here and there. Was it just her imagination or did he look even more handsome this morning?

“Enjoying the view?” He nudged her as he passed her by and her cheeks heated. Very subtle, practically gaping at him.

She cleared her throat. “You made coffee. How long have you been awake?”

“Not long. I just did my morning round to check on the generator. Although Mrs. Williams fires it up occasionally, it tends to break down after the first night.” He leaned in for a long, lingering kiss, then winced and held up his dirty hands. The stinging smell of machine oil reached her nostrils. “Sorry, I should probably wash these first.”

As he went over to the sink, Sam turned to reach for two cups in the cupboard. She put them on the table and filled them both with coffee. 

This was nice. Homey and so normal. As if they didn’t live most of the year in the wilderness in tents, but were a normal couple who’d settled in a normal little house. With a normal life. Her heart stung a little. She turned and handed one of the cups to him when he was done drying his hands.

“Thank you. Did you sleep well?”

“Very. And you?” She took a sip of her coffee while she held his gaze.

He moved in closer to pull her against him. “Best sleep in years.” Another lingering kiss. Then his face became serious as his hands caressed her hips and thighs. “Sore?”

She shook her head. “No. Just a bit sensitive.”

“Good.” He smiled, then nuzzled her neck in a ticklish caress. She laughed and hurried to put her cup down before she’d add coffee stains to the machine oil ones on his shirt. Then she wrapped her arms around him and ran her fingers through his ruffled hair.

His mouth tasted like fresh morning air, and coffee, and him. She hummed against his lips in appreciation. Would she ever get enough of him?

His hands roamed over her back and down to her behind, pulling her against him. She smiled when the growing bulge in his pants told her she wasn’t the only one getting excited. They both released a groan as they broke apart.

“I gotta take a shower first.” Jack brushed his hands along her cheeks. “There’s machine oil all over me.” He raised his eyebrows as he dropped his gaze. “I think I ruined your shirt.”

Sam looked down. Traces of black showed on the grey. She shrugged. “I like you dirty.”

Jack gave a silent cough and stared at her. Then a dark smirk pulled at his lips and he leaned in.  “Careful there, unless you wanna find yourself bent over that kitchen counter.”

“Promise?” She grinned.

“Most definitely.” His fingers trailed under her shirt. She groaned. God, she should have put clothes on. Panties, or her tank top. He hummed against her neck and pulled her close. His hot palms sought out her bare skin, grazed her breasts. Fire ignited under her skin. At last, he released her with a chuckle. “How about some breakfast?”

“What about the counter?”

He brushed his nose against hers. “Probably not a good idea if you’re still sensitive from last night.” He pecked a kiss on the tip of her nose. “Wouldn’t want to have to cut you off for the next two days.”

She released a disappointed sigh. “Too bad.” Sam picked up her coffee and smiled at him from under her lashes.

“Oh, I fully intent to have you naked again very, very soon.” Laughing, she opened the fridge, but Jack stopped her. “I’ll make breakfast. Scrambled eggs and bacon.”

\---

**_{SHORTENED to keep this version M-rated! You can find the[full version on my website](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-chapter-33-rain-unabridged/).}_ **

She smiled when he pulled her outside into the warm air. After he’d locked the door, they strolled hand in hand through the field next to the house, towards the edge of the forest.

“The lake isn’t far.” Jack looked at the tree line. “Just a few minutes through the forest.”

“It’s so beautiful here.” Sam closed her eyes and inhaled. The scent of wildflowers and grass pervaded the warm air. “Do you ever see any Aschen harvesters here?”

“We’re pretty far up in the mountains, and there’s no farmland close. Just forest areas and lakes. They’re not interested in these lands.”

The soft breeze became slightly cooler as they entered the shadows of the forest.

“Up here it’s almost as though they don’t exist. I can understand why you like it here so much.”

Jack gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “I still haven’t given up hope that we’ll get rid of them at some point in my lifetime.”

“What then, though?” Sam lifted her hand and blinked against the sun and the cobalt sky. When Jack looked at her with raised eyebrows, she shrugged. “Well, have you never thought about what’ll happen then? We don’t have a human government. We don’t even have scientists. Most of our people are farmers.”

“We got people like you and McKay. And we have the Ministry officials like your dad versed in politics. I think we’ll manage.”

“Still.” How had she never thought about that when she’d set out to fight the Aschen? All she’d wanted was to go through the Stargate someday. Her dream had come true. Yes, of course, she wanted the Aschen off Earth, but that day seemed so far in the future.

He smirked. “Hey, I’m not saying we wouldn’t face problems. I just think we should cross that bridge when we come to it.”

So him, the lightness and simplicity with which he discarded worries. And yet, when faced with existing problems, he solved them with such integrity, such calm. They were so different… Tenderly, Sam drew him closer, and he wrapped his arm around her, pressing a kiss against her temple.

In the distance, the sparkling sunlight reflecting on the surface of the lake leaked through the trees. The air became cooler in the shadows, smelling of damp earth and moss. When they stepped out of the forest, Sam held her breath.

A wide lake stretched out in front of her, the water so clear she could see the bottom with its algae, fine grain sand and a scattering of rocks. Sunlight and wind created an entrancing dance on the small ripples that formed on the water’s surface.

“Oh my God. I’ve never seen a lake this clear.” She stepped towards the water. Soft waves lapped lazily onto the rocky shore. To the left, a wooden gangway led out onto the water.

“Ours in Antarctica is pretty clear too.” He wrapped his arms around her waist from behind.

“Yes, but it’s small and so deep you can’t see the bottom.”

He smirked. “I told you, you can swim in it when I invited you here for polar night.”

He had. And if she’d known he was inviting her to paradise… She leaned her head back against his shoulder. A group of wild geese landed on the water in the distance. Rocks and forests framed the shore on the other side, stretching up the side of a small mountain.

“Why did you invite me?” When he raised his eyebrows, Sam cleared her throat. “During polar night. Why did you invite me all of a sudden?”

He shrugged. “I hadn’t heard from your father regarding the marriage for over eight months. I thought the contract wouldn’t be valid. You were the woman I wanted to be with, so…” He cleared his throat.

She held her breath as her insides fluttered with happiness. She was the woman he’d wanted to be with. Even back then. He’d actually wanted her before the marriage contract came up.

“What?” Jack brushed her cheek with his nose.

“Nothing.” She smiled, then turned her head to capture his lips with hers. “I wanted to be with you, too. Which is the reason I didn’t come. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to resist the temptation.”

“Ah.” He grinned. “I _am_ pretty hard to resist, aren’t I?”

She laughed. “Smug bastard.” When his tongue darted into her mouth, her whisper turned into a shaky sigh.

“You know…” Jack nipped her lower lip. There’s a hidden raised hide where you can look over the entire landscape, including parts of the lake. It’s gonna be a bit of a walk through the forest, though.”

Being able to view this entire landscape? Her heart quickened. “Let’s go.”

 

***

 

Sam couldn’t believe places like this existed on Earth.

Lush forests with different kinds of Aspen, fir, and spruce trees. Clearings filled with wildflowers. Butterflies dancing on the beams of sunlight breaking through the tree crowns. Wild apples and berries. And except for them, no soul around to disturb the peaceful calm.

In the Powhatan area, all land was cultivated. Most of it was used for farming, so while there was lots of landscape, it didn’t compare to the sublime wilderness she was looking at now.

They crossed a little stream, picked a few apples, and found a clearing filled with tame wild bunnies. By the time they reached a vast clearing on a hill, Sam had to remind herself they were still on Earth, not some exotic alien planet.

On the peak of the hill, somebody had built a tree stand up against a thick old oak tree. A ladder led up to a thick platform in the tree’s crown. Sturdy and apparently well-maintained, despite its obvious age.

They climbed up the steps of the ladder. Once they reached the top, her breath caught. A makeshift banister surrounded the platform. A few of the upper branches of the tree had been cut back to allow for a full panoramic view. Forests stretched out to the horizon.

“This is spectacular.” She put her palms on the banister to look out over the treetops to the mountains and hills in the distance.

Jack placed his hands on either side of her, and she leaned back against him when he nuzzled her neck.

“Is all of this land uninhabited?”

“Not all of it. There are a few cabins here and there. Most people live in town and use them as weekend or vacation homes. A few hunters are usually around in the forests, but you could walk for miles without running into another person.” He placed a soft kiss on her neck and strolled along the platform around the thick tree trunk, over to the other side. Sam drew her eyes away from the landscape to follow him.

On the other side, the surface of the lake sparkled in the distance as if somebody had spread thousands of little crystals on it.

“Somewhere over there is our cabin.” He pointed to the distance.

Wow. Had they really walked that far? It hadn’t seemed like it. She breathed in the scent of pines and resin carried on the wind. Down on the ground at the far edge of the field, two fawns grazed peacefully, and slowly moved along the tree line. Now and then, they lifted their heads and stilled, as though ready to jump back into hiding at any moment.

How many more places like these had existed before the Aschen had turned them all into farmlands? What if, someday, they’d do the same to these forests? A chill ran through her and she wrapped her arms around herself.

Jack sat down on a makeshift bench fixed against the tree trunk. She strolled over to him and joined him. When he pulled her legs to lie across his hips, she lay back on the bench and stared up into the tree crown. Wind rustled the leaves, making them dance in slow, chaotic rhythms. Her eyes closed as a soft, warm breeze caressed her skin.

How would this landscape would look at night with the full moon on the horizon? She imagined the cloud of the Milky Way stretched out above them. “I bet you can see every single star from up here.”

“You can.” He ran his palms along her thighs. “Although the leaves ruin the view a little.”

She caught his hand and entwined their fingers. How could it be that they’d only dated for a few days, and yet she felt as though she’d know him her whole life? How could she be so comfortable with him?

Granted, it had been almost a year since they had first met in the barn, but most of that time he’d been her commanding officer. She hadn’t allowed herself any feelings that ran deeper than their professional relationship.

“Thank you.” Squeezing his hand, she smiled at him.

“For what?”

“I wouldn’t be here without you. I wouldn’t even be in the resistance without you. I owe you so much and…” She sat up and steadied herself. “I wasn’t very fair to you at times, and I’m sorry.”

“Sam…” He cupped her cheek and brushed his thumb over her lower lip. “You owe me nothing. And if you ever did, you repaid your dues with your work in our resistance. Besides…” He chuckled and playfully evaded her mouth. “I was a jerk, too. And chances are, I will be again in the future.”

She laughed and brushed her lips over his. “I think I can handle you being a jerk. And we could have solved a lot of our problems if we’d talked to each other.”

He raised his eyebrows.

She swallowed hard. “I mean, think about it. If you’d cleared up the misunderstanding after O’Malley’s and told me about your—about our—marriage. Or if I’d told you the truth about where I was from. Or that I saw my father on the mission to Powhatan—“

“That.” He chuckled. “That you could have done, especially after I gave you that speech about lying to me.”

“I wanted to tell you the truth, but I didn’t know how. I didn’t want to lose your trust and respect,” she said, thoughtful. “And how was I supposed to know my father’s one of the highest ranking resistance members? For all I knew, you’d have considered me the daughter of a collaborator.”

His eyes sparkled. “Ya know, the irony is, I was actually scheduled to meet him that day. At the Aschen fair.”

Her chest shook with laughter and she covered her face with her hands. “God, we’re such idiots aren’t we?”

“Well…” He shrugged with a hint of awkwardness on his face. “We’ve had better moments. But come to think of it, many of our problems could’ve been prevented.”

Shifting her position, she leaned into him to rest her head against his chest while they both looked out over the vast landscape in front of them. Somewhere above them, a bald eagle released a whistling screech. Jack’s hands roamed down over her body, stroking lazy circles on her back while he stretched out his legs and leaned back against the tree.

 _I don’t want this moment to end._ She closed her eyes. The wind brushing through the leaves, the serene silence, the warmth from the sun. She wanted to absorb it all and never forget. If she could choose one moment to live in for the rest of her life, this one would be it…

 

***

 

A low, distant rumble rolled across the wide landscape. Sam sat up from the bench up on the tree platform and raised her eyebrows at Jack. “What was that?”

“There’s a thunderstorm coming in.”

“Oh.” She looked around. The sky was still cloudless, although the sun sat considerably lower now. They’d spent most of the afternoon chatting, eating apples, and teasing each other. The day was almost over. How could time fly by so fast?

“We should probably start heading back to the cabin.” He stretched and then got up from the bench. They walked along the platform, around the tree trunk to the ladder, and climbed back down to the ground.

“Do we have enough time until it starts raining?” Sam picked a twig out of her hair.

“Not sure. Rain clouds move in faster up here, so we might not make it back before it starts.”

“Ah well.” She gave him a beaming smile. “It’s a warm day. It’ll be refreshing.”

He chuckled and caught her wrists behind her back, rendering her helpless against his chest. “Not to mention very hot to see that shirt of yours get soaked.”

“Jack.” She giggled against his mouth. “It’s black, so it still won’t show anything.”

“No, but it’ll still cling to you like a second skin.”

“No more than when it rains down in Antarctica during training.”

“Why do you think I’m always around to watch?”

She stared at him, then gasped in mock-shock. “I can’t believe you. And here I was thinking your reasons for watching my training were of a professional nature.”

“They are.” He inched closer. “Mostly.”

“You’re a bad liar.” Her breath caught when his lips played with hers. They’d touched and caressed each other all afternoon, and she wanted more. How was that possible? How could she be so addicted to a man’s touch, his closeness?

She let her tongue dart out, teased his lips. Kisses… such a sweet torment. So searing. She smiled into the kiss. “Next time I have a close combat lesson scheduled when it’s raining, I expect _you_ to teach me.”

He smirked, and his eyes blazed. “Oh, I can teach you alright.”

Her cheeks warmed, but she gave him a cheeky grin. “I can’t wait.” She writhed out of his grip and turned to walk back along the small path through the high grass, towards the forest. Forget the rain, now all she wanted was to get home and take him up on his promise.

She stepped over a large root sticking out of the ground, and wanted to pick up one of the wildflowers when her gaze landed on her leg. Her heart stopped, and she came to a halt, then stumbled when Jack ran into her from behind.

“Carter.” He grabbed her around the waist to prevent both of them from falling. She stared at her leg, her thoughts tumbling into a wild twister. Panic clenched her stomach. Spider. Huge, gigantic spider. Her brain short-circuited. “Oh God.”

“What’s wrong?” His voice reflected concern, then he half-turned her and followed her gaze to her pants. “Oy.”

She panted. The critter started moving, crawling up her pants, its furry black legs wriggling. Like the one in the cave. The one that had jumped on her, wrapped its legs around her, brushing her arm. Her breath sped up even more. “Get it off me.”

“It’s okay.” He squeezed her arm. “It’s just a wolf spider. They’re harmless unless you threaten them.”

“Get it off.” She closed her eyes, her body shaking violently. “Please. Get it off.”

“I will.” He pressed her hand. “Just relax and stay still.”

She opened her eyes and swallowed hard when he lured the animal onto his hand, then walked a few meters into the high grass and set it down on the ground. It had been on her. _On her._ She resisted the urge to shake herself, and wrapped her arms around her body. What the hell was wrong with her? The spider incident had happened two months ago. She should be over that by now.

Why couldn’t she shed that fear? And why did she always keep having those damn nightmares of spiders eating her alive? Jack straightened and held his hands up to her. “See? It’s gone. Crawling around happily a few meters back there.”

A few meters? Sam’s eyes darted around on the ground surrounding them. “It can’t jump, can it?”

“No.”

She swallowed and narrowed her eyes at him. That hadn’t sounded convincing.

“Okay, it can, but I promise it won’t do anything to us. It’s just looking for food and a mate.” He pulled her close and Sam buried her face against his neck. This was ridiculous. She was a soldier. She shouldn’t get squeamish over a spider.

Scratching her arms, she shifted. “I’m…I’m sorry…”

“No need to apologize.” He kissed her forehead, then studied her.

Sam swallowed. “Ever since our mine accident… I was never afraid of spiders. I think something went wrong in my brain when that damn thing jumped on me in the mine.”

“Sounds like post-mission stress. Janet has some pills that help against the symptoms, you know? Get rid of nightmares. Stuff like that.”

He knew about the nightmares? She raised her eyebrows.

He shrugged. “I took them a coupla times. Back when I was still on solo missions.”

“Oh.” She lowered her head, then scanned the area at their feet again.

“I know it probably won’t help, but that thing just now was completely harmless. Cute even, if you look at it from a close angle. Big black puppy eyes, and fuzzy.” His voice carried a hint of humor and she gave him a weak smile.

“Eight eyes. I know they’re harmless. I read about Earth’s spiders. I thought it would help make the nightmares go away, but it just made them worse. I feel like it’s still on me, and—”

“It’s not. C’mere.” Jack pulled her into his arms and pressed a warm kiss against her neck. “I promise, it’s not on you. Let’s get you to a spider-free zone, okay?”

Like there was such a thing out here. Sam sighed as she followed him through the grass, her gaze now fixated on the ground. Her cheeks flared. She was behaving like a weak little girl.

“This is ridiculous.” She stopped and closed her eyes. “It’s just a spider. You must think I’m completely out of my—”

She gasped and opened her eyes when suddenly his fingers were on her lips. “Tell you a secret. I have a horrible fear of bugs.”

His sudden revelation dumbfounded her. “Bugs?”

“Yeah. The big black ones that can fly. Same reaction. I just don’t have the nightmares. And I’m lucky there aren’t any big ones down in the Antarctica region.”

“Have you ever seen one?” He was scared of bugs? _Him_?

“Oh, yeah. I worked near the Amazonas for a while. I’m telling you, they have bugs the size of your hand up there, probably bigger. Saw one of them lay eggs in the wound of one of my co-workers. Not a pretty sight.”

She flinched and her stomach turned. Maybe her fear wasn’t so ridiculous after all. And if somebody like him could talk so openly about it… “What happened?”

“He got a bad infection. Our doctor tried to clean the wound, but a coupla weeks later the little buggers crawled out of there. We had to get him to another camp to be able to treat him with Aschen medicine, since our camp didn’t have the technology. After that, I shot any bug I saw.”

“Yeah, so would I.” She shuddered.

Another rumble sounded from the sky. He looked up and smirked. “We’re not gonna make it before it starts raining.”

As though he was sorry for that. Smiling, she grabbed his hand.

When the first raindrops drizzled down on the leaves of the trees above, they broke into a run. After only a few minutes, the rain reached the forest floor, and big wet drops hit her arms and soaked her clothes. 

By the time they reached the lakeshore, the rain ran in currents down their bodies. Laughing, they slowed to a walking pace. Couldn’t get more than wet, so what was the point in running?

Sam ran a few meters into the lake and splashed some water at Jack, laughing when he started toward her and caught her around the waist. She wriggled out of his grip and walked over the pebbles to the path leading back to their cabin. Thunder rolled above them, and lightening streaked across the sky.

When they reached the cabin, both panted with exhilaration.

“Oh boy.” She looked down at herself, grinning. Well, at least he’d gotten his wish with the clingy t-shirt.

“Ah, come on, Carter.” He wrung a bit of water out of the edges of his shirt. “You’re not gonna get girlish about getting wet, are you?”

She folded her arms. “I’m not the one wringing out my shirt.”

He lifted his head, a dark, dangerous sparkle in his eyes. “Did you just call me girlish?”

“I didn’t, but if the shoe fits…” She yelped, when he grabbed her arm and pulled her out from under the protective porch into the pouring rain.

“Maybe I should remind exactly how much of a man I am.”

She caught her breath when he leaned in to trail teasing kisses down her neck, his hum reverberating against her skin, tickling her oversensitive nerves.

Her fingers tangled in his soaked shirt, and closing her eyes, she lifted her face up to the sky. Drops of warm summer rain hit her skin. The scent of petrichor surrounded them. The atmosphere charged with electricity of the storm. Another thunderclap broke through the constant pounding of raindrops on the ground, the roof, the trees.

Arousal hit her like a lightning bolt. She buried her face against Jack’s neck. His scent mixed with grass, nature, and just a hint of the aftershave he’d used that morning. Need stormed through her. 

**_{SHORTENED! You can find the[full version on my website](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-chapter-33-rain-unabridged/).}_ **

“Like that?”

Sam gave a throaty laugh. “Oh yeah.”

“Anytime you feel like repeating this, let me know.” His lips seared her neck.

Giggling, she buried her face against his shoulder. Damn, had she really just initiated fast, hot sex in the rain? Her stomach fluttered.

He cleared his throat. “Don’t get me wrong, I love the slowness. But this just now was… Wow.”

Sam grinned at his mischievous gaze. How had this happened? She traced her fingers along the line of his cheek, and studied him, thoughtful. “You know, I think I’m in serious trouble.”

“Oh?” He raised his eyebrows.

“I think I’m falling for you.” Barely a rasp.

He looked at her, face blank. “Ah.” He nodded. “You’re right. You’re screwed.”

She burst out laughing and pulled him down into a deep kiss. Actually, falling for him was probably an understatement. She’d fallen for him that first night at O’Malley’s. Now she was well past that. Was it a fling? Infatuation? Affection? Or actual love? It was probably still too early in their relationship to think about something so profound.

Especially when she didn’t have any idea yet whether they’d work out at all.

When they finally broke the kiss, all humor had left Jack’s eyes. “If it makes you feel better, I’m pretty sure I’ve fallen for you, too.”

Her heart sped up. A tingle of happiness fluttered in her stomach. Maybe she could rule out a fling at least, and possibly infatuation. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a warm hug.

“How about we get inside and snuggle up in front of the fireplace?” He flicked her earlobe tenderly with his tongue.

Fireplace… warmth… Great idea. The air around them had cooled considerably. When Jack pushed himself up and straightened, she shivered against the cold raindrops.

She slid down from the table and gasped when her legs gave out under her. Smirking, Jack caught her and leaned in to her ear.

“Managed to make you go weak in the knees, did I?” Before she could think of an adequate comeback, he picked her up in his arms. “Let’s get you inside.”

Laughing, she fought against his hold. “Jack, what are you doing?”

“Carrying you over the threshold?” He grinned.

She froze and stared at him, her smile fading. Was he aware of the old Earth custom? The age-old tradition of carrying a bride over the threshold as a good luck charm for a successful marriage?

He stopped at the front door and then cleared his throat awkwardly. “Kinda should have thought this through before. Sam, could you…um…”

“Open the door?” She giggled against his neck before she reached over to turn the doorknob and unlock the door. It swung open. “Teamwork.”

He smiled at her, then carried her inside. She closed her eyes and relaxed in his arms. Hadn’t she always hated the thought of being treated like this? Of being protected? Like a weak woman?

Why didn’t his action make her feel weak? She’d worked so hard to become a capable soldier. Now she’d almost forgotten what it was like to be herself. Maybe she could be both, a soldier and a woman.

When he set her down on the soft rug in front of the fireplace, an awareness of her body and the pleasure she’d found tingled through her, a low, satisfied warmth.

“I’ll get us some blankets and start a fire.” He rubbed her arms when she shivered. A few moments later, he placed one of the thick woolen blankets he’d brought from camp around her shoulders.

She wrung some of the water out of her hair, while Jack arranged firewood in the middle of the stone fireplace. After a moment, flames flickered up, immersing the room in a soft orange glow. Sam rubbed her arms, and slid closer to the crackling fire.

Jack took one of the bottles from the stone frame of the fireplace and poured the contents into two glasses. Then he handed one to her.

“This’ll warm you up in no time.” His naked chest grazed her back as he sat behind her, then pulled her back to lean against him. Sam took a sip of the drink and grimaced when the strong alcohol burned down her throat. Warmth spread through her stomach.

He unfolded one of the blankets in front of the fireplace, then placed a few pillows on it. “C’mere.”

She snuggled up to him, resting her head on the pillow, her front facing the fireplace. Curling into his warmth, she pulled the blanket up and gazed into the calmly dancing flames. His lips dropped kisses on her shoulder, warm, teasing.

“Mmm.” Sam sighed and ran her hand through his hair. “Shouldn’t we get our wet clothes from the porch?”

“They’ll still be there when the rain stops.”

A loud crash of thunder broke the silence, and the rain pelted down hard on the roof, against the windows.

Drowsy, she closed her eyes. So warm. So comfortable. If only she could stay like this forever. Up here at the cabin. With him.


	34. Red Sky at Morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> This version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).
> 
>  
> 
> Now you can also find an ebook version of this story on my website, including lots of bonus material as well as the first publication version of Stargate Aschen. (Click image to download.)  
> 
> 
>   
> [](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-free-stargate-sg-1-ebook/)  
>    
> 

What a beautiful day. Sam stretched under the warming beams of the midday sun. The previous evening’s thunderstorm had cooled the air to a point where sun tanning was enjoyable. The calm waves of the lake lapped at the wooden planks in a soothing rhythm.

Through half-closed lids, she looked out across the lake at the line of her fishing pole dancing softly over the water’s surface. Who’d have thought fishing would be this relaxing?

She yawned lazily. “This is great.”

Next to her, Jack smirked. “Told ya. Really gets you back down to earth from all the missions when you do this for an hour early in the morning.”

She reached out and trailed her hand over his forearm. Through the clear water, the bottom of the lake gleamed with its fine-grained sand. 

If only they had a lake like this close to camp... Despite Antarctica’s mild temperatures, the air and water never warmed enough for an actual summer day. What she wouldn’t give to dive into the clear waves of this lake and float around for a while.

Well, why didn’t she?

Pulse racing with excitement, she put her fishing rod aside and got up from her chair.

Jack raised his eyebrows at her. “Whatcha doing?”

“I’m going for a swim.”

“Hey.” He straightened. “You’re gonna scare away the fish.”

“I thought the concept of fishing was—well, fishing. Not catching.” She pulled her shirt over her head.

“On second thought…” Eyes glued to her, he leaned back, grinning. “No objections.”

Chuckling, she threw her shirt at him. When it landed on his face, he struggled to clear his view again. She stifled a giggle and opened the button of her pants. Sometimes he could be such a man. Not that she was complaining. She adored the more playful, lighter side she’d seen from him in the past two days.

She dropped her pants and shivered against the breeze. When she dove headfirst into the water, the sudden coolness made her heart pound. Gasping, she resurfaced and brushed her wet hair out of her face.

Leaning back, she made a few lazy paddling strokes while staring up into the cloudless sky. Her skin tingled with the cold of the water.

“You know, that’s really not fair.” Jack’s voice drifted over from the dock.

Sam cocked her head. “What?”

“You start this little undressing show and then you just stop? Have you never heard of skinny dipping, Carter?”

She laughed. “Come in here with me if you want to see more.”

On the dock, Jack stared at her for a few seconds, then a dark smile pulled at his lips. “Tease. You better prove you’re serious.” He put his fishing rod next to hers and got up.

She giggled and then fumbled underwater to pull off her panties. Her tank top was easier. She aimed, then flung both pieces of clothing towards him. He caught them.

Her skin buzzed with awareness. Damn, this felt almost scandalous…and exhilarating. She allowed herself to sink underwater, enjoyed the soft grazing caress of the currants on her bared skin. Weightless… She opened her eyes. Beams of light broke in the water.

When her feet touched the fine sand on the bottom, she turned on her back to look at the rippling surface. The blue sky distorted, floated. Like the event horizon of the Stargate.

Her lungs burned for oxygen, but she held out a little longer, before she pushed herself off the ground. Gasping, she broke through the surface into the clear air.

“Was getting concerned there for a moment.” His voice sounded closer. She turned. A charming smile on his face, he swam towards her.

“If you want to touch, you have to catch,” she said.

His eyes twinkled with a predatory glint. Oh, maybe she should know better by now than to challenge him in such things.

“I’m a pretty good swimmer, you know?”

She paddled backwards, away from him, in slow, lazy movements. “All I’ve heard up to now is talk. You gonna back it up with action… _Sir_?”

His eyes blazed. “I’ll give you action all right.” He broke into a fast stroke, and her breath hitched. Damn, he was fast. She should’ve known. He never accepted a challenge if he wasn’t damn sure he would win it. Not that it was about winning or losing now, but she didn’t want to make it easy on him.

She turned and started crawling through the water, changing direction randomly. Diving would be futile in the clear water, because he’d be able to see her movements, so her only chance was out-swimming him.

After all, she’d trained for speed and endurance every morning in the lake. Her gaze fixated on a group of rocks near the lakeshore. If she got out of the water there… She grinned. Kinda cheating, but who cared.

The instant her fingertips made contact with the coarse surface of the first rock, Jack’s fingers closed around her ankle. She yelped, then laughed as she tried to jerk her foot free. He grabbed her other ankle as well, then forced her to turn on her back.

“Not fair.” She paddled with her hands to keep her head above water.

“I disagree.” He moved between her legs and steadied her with his arms. “You wanted to cheat.”

She tried to put on an innocent expression. “What?”

He smirked. “You’re still a bad liar, you know.”

Laughing, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, then shuddered as he leaned in to her ear.

“Caught you, fair and square.”

“What if I let you win?” A thrill coursed through her when she felt the rock face against her back. Trapped. Between the rock and Jack. God, that fact probably shouldn’t turn her on so much.

“You _let_ me win?” His voice rumbled against her throat in a dangerous challenge. His chest grazed her bare nipples, then he pressed his hot skin against hers, pinning her between him and the rock.

She drew a shaky breath. Arousal pooled between her legs. The stone behind her felt so cold, and yet his body seemed to sear her front.

Jack laced their fingers, then pinned her hands to the rock above her head. “Wanna think about that statement again?”

**_{SHORTENED to keep this version M-rated! You can find the[full version on my website](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-chapter-34-red-sky-morning-unabridged/).}_ **

After another loving kiss, Jack released her, making sure she was standing as firmly as possible in the water on the sandy ground. He flinched in sympathy. “You’re gonna be sore as hell later.”

Damn, he’d never had rough sex with a woman he lo— He swallowed. The world spun around him. 

She beamed at him. “Worth it. Race you back to the dock?”

“Um… sure… Last one to get there’ll get beer from the cabin.”

Laughing, she pushed herself away from the rocks and vanished under water, diving back towards the dock. Jack stared after her, then took a deep breath and leaned against the rocks. Like he’d make her go get beer after she’d just let him fuck her against the rocks like that.

 _I love her._ How the hell had that happened? He’d never expected to fall in love. After Sara. After Charlie’s death. After all the women he’d had casual fun with. As a gifted man, he’d known he couldn’t hope for more than getting along with his partner. He’d made his peace with that.

But Carter… Surely, there wasn’t such a thing as a perfect fit when it came to relationships. But damn, she came pretty close.

The question was, did she love him? Or rather, would they ever get to a point where she could?

 

***

 

A smile pulled at Sam’s lips as she looked through the books on the small bookshelf in the corner of the room. Classics, mostly. Some books about astronomy. Some of the ‘bestsellers’ propagated by the Aschen.

She pulled one out. No marks or scratches. “You don’t read much, do you?”

“Depends on the book.” Jack’s voice drifted from the porch.

Right. After all his experiences with the Aschen, he probably wouldn’t read the bestsellers they advised.

“Most of the Aschen stuff were free gifts while I was working in the Ministry. Did you find the astronomy ones?”

“Yeah.” She pulled a larger book out. Worn and definitely well-used. _Look at a person’s bookshelf and you know what kind of person they are._ Her father had always told her that. In Jack’s case it was definitely true.

When she looked up, a small case next to the astronomy books caught her gaze.

She pulled it out. Old. The wood worn off at the edges. Her fingers outlined the fine markings on the wood, then she opened the box. It was a folded board with black and white squares on it. Her heart pounded as she stepped outside, book under one arm and the box in her hands. “You have a chess game.”

Jack turned his head from the telescope he had been looking into. “Oh…yeah. Haven’t used it for ages, though.”

“You play?” She stared at him.

He straightened. “Do you?”

“Yeah… My dad taught me. After my brothers taught me pool and bowling, he insisted I learn something I needed brains for.” She beamed at him. “I didn’t think there was anybody else on Earth who knew the game. Dad bought ours at an antics market.”

“That’s where I got mine too. Shame they don’t produce these anymore. You know, I used to play with your dad all the time.”

She placed the box on the bench and handed him the book. “If you want we could play a game sometime.”

“We could play one now.” He opened the astronomy book. “Once we figure out where that damn star fits in.”

“I’d love that.” She stepped close to the telescope and looked through.

After Jack had gotten his telescope out of the wardrobe earlier, they’d spent most of the evening mapping out the sky together. She’d barely been able to contain her excitement, and from the smirk on his face, she was reasonably sure that had been his intention.

The familiar constellations of the Northern hemisphere proved more challenging than she’d expected. Especially with a telescope a lot better than the one she’d always used when she had still live with her dad. Suddenly she saw even distant stars clear and bright. And there were even a few more. How she’d missed this sky…

“Found it.” He held the book out to her and pointed at a star constellation. Brows scrunched, Sam studied the page, then looked at the sky again.

“That’s it. You were right.” She smiled when he placed a ticklish kiss under her ear and wrapped his arms around her. Swaying slightly they both looked up into the starry sky. “I’m gonna miss these constellations.”

Okay, that was only half-true. What she’d miss was this lightness of being, this playfulness throughout their days… Tomorrow they’d have to return to Antarctica and start their daily routine again. Different part of the world, different sky, different way of living. Lots of work, and very little time to be close to Jack. To hold him. Sleep with him.

It was their last day together, alone up here in this secluded Aschen-free paradise.

“This will sound selfish and very cliché, but I wish we didn’t have to go back tomorrow.” Her voice came out barely a whisper.

“Not cliché.” His grip around her tightened. “We’ll come back during polar night if you want. We can even make it a coupla weeks then. That is, if you don’t decline my invitation again.”

She nudged him, laughing. “I won’t if you don’t pretend to have another wife again.”

“I wasn’t pretending.d s And besides, _another_ wife? Technically, that was you.”

“Right.” Some of the stars above her blinked. A shadow settled on her heart. “This’ll change once we’re back at camp, won’t it?”

“What will?”

“This. Us.” She closed her eyes and squeezed his arms. 

“Why would it?”

“Well, you know, work… Neither of us will have time anymore. Usually at camp, we don’t even see each other—unless we have a mission scheduled.”

“I guess it’s gonna be a little different.” He leaned in to nip at her ear. “I certainly won’t get to have sex with you during the day. Or three times a day.”

She laughed and relaxed against him. “We can always sneak into the forest. I have inside knowledge of the gate travel schedule. So I know when the area around the gate will be deserted.”

“Now there’s a plan.” He rested his chin on her shoulder. “It won’t change.”

“Jack, we can’t really sneak away to—”

“Wasn’t referring to that.” Then a short moment of silence. “Why not?”

His voice reflected such boyish disappointment that she had to laugh as she turned in his arms. One glance into his eyes told her, he wasn’t serious. Of course, he wouldn’t be. He was too professional when it came to resistance matters. Besides, neither of them was keen on rumors. Another thing they agreed upon.

“Here’s an idea.” His warm finger brushed her cheek. “Let’s make a promise. Every day at eight, we’ll meet at the food tent, have dinner and spend a coupla hours together. No ranks, no resistance talk, no doohickeys. Just us. Maybe some chess. Some sky-mapping. We’ll take the game and the telescope back to camp with us.”

“That sounds good.” She buried her face in his neck and inhaled. 

If only they didn’t have to return to fighting the Aschen. How different their lives would be, were it not for them. Someday… Some distant future… Maybe. And then they’d start a normal life together. Well, somewhat normal.

“Shall we make use of what little time we’ve left?” Jack’s breath warmed her ear.

Need flooded through her veins. She gave his neck a teasing lick. “Definitely.”

“So… Chess then?”

She stared at him. Definitely not what she’d had in mind.

He smirked and a wicked sparkle gleamed in his eyes. “Come on, Carter. We’ll spice it up. You drop a piece of clothing for every piece you lose.”

“Every piece _I_ lose? What about you?”

“Oh, I fully intend on winning against you.”

“Empty words again?” She cocked her head, then sat down on the blanket Jack had covered the floor with earlier that evening.

He grinned. “Wanna run inside and grab some more clothing so you have a chance?”

“I’ll checkmate you—with a pawn.” She folded her arms and held his gaze.

“Ouch. Just for that, I’ll draw my victory out. You know…enjoy the view for a while.” He trailed his gaze down her chest.

Laughing, she took out the black pieces. “You can take the white ones. Maybe then you’ll have a chance at catching a glimpse.”

 

***

 

 _Oh boy._ If only she didn’t always have such a big mouth. Shivering, Sam pulled the blanket around her bare skin and stared at the board as if it would produce a solution. Somehow she just couldn’t focus on the game.

“What’s the matter, Carter?” Bare-chested, Jack took a sip of his beer. Way too smug. Well, she kinda deserved it after gloating prematurely.

She narrowed her eyes at the board again. Damn, there had to be a way out. If she lost her queen, too… She had one pawn left, but there was no way to promote that one to a queen. Not before Jack’s knight got to it, anyway.

“You know, I distinctly remember somebody taunting me earlier.”

She frowned at him.

“No, no. Somebody said, take the white ones, so you’ll stand a chance.”

He was enjoying this way too much. She shouldn’t have underestimated him, and instead focused on the game early on. Who’d have thought he’d be this good? “Fine, I apologize.”

He chuckled. “An apology, huh? Not gonna cut it. You’re in a corner there. I’m gonna get that queen.”

She scoffed and concentrated on the board again.

“Now if that queen persuaded me to let her go...”

“Really?” She raised her eyes.

“You know, if she made amended and were real convincing.” He gave her a heated stare.

Her insides fluttered. Flirtations like this were exactly why she had trouble focusing. God, she wanted him. “I didn’t think coercing a queen was your style.”

“It usually isn’t.” He smirked. “But that one was particularly snarky.”

“Well.” She dropped her blanket and crawled over to him, making sure to wipe the chessboard clear with her calf as she did. “Whoops.”

“Hey.” His warm palms ran down along her sides and over her upper thighs, sending goose bumps across her skin. “Cheater.”

Giggling, she cupped his cheek with her hand and leaned in for a lingering kiss. Her breath caught when he pulled her to straddle him. His arousal pressed against her thigh. Good, so she wasn’t the only one eager to use what little time they had left.

Hands splayed on his chest, she pushed him on his back and steadied herself on top of him.

“How’s this for convincing?” She leaned down to give his lower lip a nip.

“Getting there.”

 _Getting_ there? Her lips pulled into an impish smile. “Beg me.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. Payback for when you did it to me yesterday.”

“Oh, no. You lost that one. Fair and square.” He grinned.

Yeah, _fair_ wasn’t exactly the word she’d chose. “I’m returning the favor.” She stretched over him, her nipples grazing his chest. His hands on her hips tightened. “Beg me.” Barely a rasp.

His eyes blazed. “You really wanna play this game?”

“Oh, yes.”

Hands on her waist, he flipped them around, then pinned her arms above her head.

“You were saying?” His words rumbled deep against her pulse point.

Heat crashed over her, made her heart speed up. How the hell was she supposed to live without this once they were back at camp? When his fingers slipped through her folds, she groaned. So easy… so delightful… “Not fair.”

“Apparently, your body disagrees.” He nipped her lower lip.

“Jack…” Damn, if only she didn’t sound so needy.

 

***

 

**_{SHORTENED to keep this version M-rated! You can find the[full version on my website](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-chapter-34-red-sky-morning-unabridged/).}_ **

Much later, when Jack was able to form conscious thoughts again, he wasn’t sure if he’d screamed, but he damn well knew she had. Twice. Satisfaction surged though him, as she lay above him, chest heaving.

He blinked towards the sky. The black started turning to a deep ocean-blue, announcing the coming dawn. Morning already?

“You know what’s funny?” He tangled his hand in her blonde hair.

“Mmhmm?” She stirred, her warm breath still fanning his neck.

“With as comfortable a bed as we have here, you’d think we’d make more use of it.”

Her body shook softly as she stifled her laughter into his neck. As she steadied herself on her arms to look down at him, her eyes sparkled. “Beds are overrated.”

“Do tell.”

She didn’t move, so he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. He buried his face in her neck, enjoyed her warmth on top of him. Her damp heat still surrounded him. So intimate.

He could definitely get used to this. For the first time in forever, his insides tingled with anticipation for the new day. And the one after that. Maybe even the lifetime ahead of them.

He released a deep breath. Was she even aware of her effect on him?

The crisp morning air cooled his skin. Maybe they should move inside. Or at least grab a blanket. He stirred, but a soft protest from her made him abandon the plan. Moving meant he’d lose her warmth, their contact.

If only he could spend the rest of his life up here in his cabin, keep her safe from the Aschen and their reign. Yeah, right. Like that was possible. He’d never be able to settle knowing the Aschen were still on Earth. And she’d go nuts without her doohickeys. The resistance was their life. Neither of them would be willing to give up fighting and do nothing for the rest of their lives.

Maybe someday, when the Aschen were gone. Until then, their little paradise up here had to remain a dream in which they could occasionally indulge.

He trailed his fingers through her hair, grazed his palm along her arms, over her freckled skin. One of these days, he’d map out every one of them.

Six more hours before reality would catch up with them again. Well, he’d be damned if he wouldn’t make every single minute worthwhile.

When he turned them around to drop a trail of kisses along her slender neck, she released a squealing giggle. He grinned.

Every. Single. Minute.


	35. Through The Looking Glass

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> This version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).
> 
>  
> 
> Now you can also find an ebook version of this story on my website, including lots of bonus material as well as the first publication version of Stargate Aschen. (Click image to download.)  
> 
> 
>   
>  [](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-free-stargate-sg-1-ebook/)   
>    
> 

“Damn it!” Sam slammed the screwdriver down and glared at the side of the Ancient chair. Hours. Countless hours during the past five days, and nothing. She’d gone through every book she knew. Read all of McKay’s findings about Ancient technology. Why couldn’t she get this damn thing to work?

No, she wasn’t even that ambitious. If she succeeded in establishing an active interface between the Ancient chair and her laptop, she’d call it a day.

Suppressing a yawn, she got up from the stony ground. Why wasn’t the data transmission going through? This didn’t make any sense.

It should be easy. After all, McKay had interfaced with the puddle jumper. The access ports were easy to configure and adapted to their more primitive laptops and computer systems. But this chair…

It had to be merely the control panel for a much larger database. If they’d manage to tap into the database, all the questions they’d ever had about the Ancients might be answered.

She glared at the chair. She’d be damned if she let a piece of technology gain the upper hand. If this damn chair wanted a war, then that was exactly what it’d get. She scowled at the wall panels. Maybe she’d overlooked some burned out circuit somewhere.

She ripped one panel off the wall and threw the cover to the ground.

“Angry?”

Heart pounding, she spun. Jack strolled into the room, his eyebrows climbing as he looked around. Leaning against the wall, he folded his arms.

“Wow. What the hell happened here?”

She glanced around the room, then flinched. Cables, tools, measuring devices, books, papers, and all kinds of reports littered the ground.

“Sorry, sir. I’m just getting frustrated with this technology. Once I figure it out, I’ll clean the place up.”

“Ah. Looks like this might take a while.” He held up a package as he made his way along a narrow path to the chair in the middle. “I saved you a turkey sandwich.”

“Thanks, but I’m not hungry yet.”

“That’s odd.” He dropped down in the chair and looked around. “You haven’t eaten anything for—” He checked his watch. “—fourteen hours.”

_Fourteen_ hours? No, it couldn’t have been that long. She turned with a frown. “Really? What time is it?”

“It’s ten-thirty. The sun set two hours ago.”

Had she really lost track of time? Another day was almost over, and she she’d gotten nowhere with this chair. Maybe this was all a waste of her time.

She faltered. The sun had already set. It was ten-thirty. Damn. Blood drained from her face. “Oh God, we had a dinner date two hours ago.”

He lifted his head and held her gaze.

Swallowing hard, she shook her head. “I’m so sorry.”

“Ah, don’t sweat it.” Jack waved it off. “I got to listen to Daniel explaining his newest theories about the Ancients. Very lengthy…”

Sam winced and bit her lower lip. How could she forget their dinner date not even a little over a week after they’d agreed on it? “I lost track of time. I promise, I’ll make it up to you.”

“Carter, it’s fine. Let’s just not make a habit of it. McKay told me you were taking this whole thing apart, so I figured you’d gotten lost in your doohickeys.” He indicated the mess around them with a smirk.

Carter… He’d called her Carter. Not Sam… Her stomach tightened. “You’re angry.”

“I…what?” He stared at her.

“You called me Carter.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Just now. You didn’t call me Sam, you called me—”

“Oh fer cryin’ out loud. Sam.” He emphasized her name. “Stop overthinking. I’m not mad. I brought you food.” He held the wrapped sandwich out to her. Sighing, Sam put her screwdriver down.

Upon reaching the chair, she stumbled over one of her measuring devices and nearly fell across Jack. Grinning, he steadied her, then pulled her into his lap.

“You know, you can just tell me if you wanna hump me that badly.” His deep rasp washed warm down her neck.

Chuckling, she claimed his lips in a lingering kiss, turned and leaned back against him. As her gaze wandered around the room, she took the sandwich from him. “This place’s a mess.” Sighing, she unpacked the sandwich.

“No argument from me.” His hands curved around her waist to hold her in place. “I expect you to restore order in here once you’re done.”

“Yes, sir.”

The smell of turkey and bread filled her nostrils. Her stomach growled. No wonder if her last meal had been fourteen hours ago. She took a bite, savoring the meat and salad. “Oh, this is good.”

“Made it myself.”

Brows raised, she turned her head to him.

He cleared his throat. “Well… I supervised its making. Walter made it. I advised. So…”

How could he be so cute when he got awkward? Warmth flooded her and she leaned in for a kiss, then laughed when bent his head down and stole a bite from her sandwich. “For a moment I actually thought you’d taken over kitchen duties.”

“You kidding me? I worked years to become camp commander so I could get out of that.” He placed his arms on the armrests of the chair. “This thing’s pretty comfortable. If you can’t figure out how it works, I’ll have it put in my command tent.”

She shrugged. “You might get lucky eventually, but I’m not willing to give up yet.”

“What’s the problem?”

Really? She frowned at the question, her legs lying across his. Was that honest interest she saw on his face?

“Well, that’s what I can’t figure out. I’ve gone over these systems countless times. I even created schematics.” She waved her hand at the papers lying everywhere. “The computer interface should work, but it doesn’t establish a connection to our system.”

“Incompatible?”

“I don’t think so, sir. McKay interfaced the jumper with our laptops. There has to be a computer core here somewhere. Interfacing directly with that would probably be a lot easier. Daniel and Rodney have no idea where it is, though, so…” Sighing, she dropped her arms, while she eyed the circuits with disdain. “I don’t understand how to access the mainframe.”

“I’m sure you’re doing your best.”

She released another sigh. His encouragement didn’t help much, but she appreciated the effort.

”Hey, maybe the battery’s empty or something?” Jack played around at the sides of the chair again. She cocked her head. He shrugged. “What? I mean, if it’s been down here for millennia…”

“These things usually don’t run on—” _batteries._ Or did they? She straightened. When Sheppard had possessed the Ancient’s knowledge, he had taken one of the crystal objects out of a little compartment next to the chair. That crystal had provided the Stargate with enough power to dial another galaxy. 

Oh God, she was so stupid. Why hadn’t she thought of that? “That’s it.”

“It is?” He straightened and raised his brows. Sam jumped down from the chair and kneeled at the side of the platform to examine the ground. She traced her fingers along the platform. Somewhere here…

A small corner gave, and she applied pressure. A compartment slid up. Empty.

She dropped to the ground with a groan. “We took out its battery.”

“You _took it out_?”

“Well, Sheppard did. The original crystal he hooked up to the dialing device came from here. We’ll have to insert one of the working ones he brought back. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. You’re a genius.”

“Well, I…try.” He grimaced, and Sam chuckled.

“Okay, I gotta reconnect the circuits. Then I need one of the crystals, and I need Sheppard.”

“Sheppard?” Jack gave her an almost insulted frown.

“Well, Colonel Sheppard has a more intuitive knowledge about the technology than you do. Sir. With all due respect.” She flinched.

He nodded with a sigh, apparently conceding. He had to know she was right. It’d taken him a while to figure out how to steer the puddle jumper, but Sheppard had sat down and immediately grasped it on a subconscious level.

“We don’t know what this is. I’d rather have somebody controlling it who has control over the technology. So far only you and Colonel Sheppard seem to be able to activate it.”

Jack nodded. “Yeah, about that. The doc wanted to talk to you. She thinks it has something to do with a gene only Sheppard and I have. Something about genetically activated…something.” He gave a shrug. “Ask her about the technobabble.”

“That’d make sense.” She straightened. “Do you realize what that means?” When he gave her a clueless stare, Sam swallowed. “Sir, that might prove Daniel’s theory’s right.”

“What theory?”

“Well, sir, Daniel believes that millennia ago, maybe even tens of thousands of years ago, the Ancients settled on Earth. The presence of the underground structure and a second Stargate are strong evidence for the validity of his theory. He thinks, the aliens—who we call Ancients now—mingled with the normal human population and started the first—”

“Carter. I just spent two hours tuning Daniel out.” He placed his fingers at his temples.

“The point is, sir, you and Colonel Sheppard might be descendants of these Ancients.”

“Really?” Jack’s brows rose. “But what about the mingling? I mean, with the Aschen breeding system, shouldn’t almost everyone have that gene by now?”

“Not necessarily.” She shook her head. “Some genes are recessive, and only persist under certain circumstances. You once told me your parents belonged to a group that boycotted the Aschen breeding system. So for centuries, nobody in your bloodline received the Aschen vaccine, or was paired up. Maybe that gene was a characteristic of the group your parents belonged to. Or maybe it’s just a fluke you still have an active gene.”

“Yeah, well.” He released a sigh. “Why don’t we call it a night before I get a headache? In the morning you can discuss the details with Janet.” He got up from the chair.

“But sir…”

“Carter.” He stalked towards her, his eyes sparkling. “You can start fresh in the morning.” When he reached her, he dropped a searing kiss on her exposed neck. Her eyes fell closed and her body quivered at his touch. “If you’re so bent on interfacing, we could do some very interesting ‘interfacing’ in my tent instead.”

She stifled a giggle. “Oh, God. That analogy is wrong on so many different levels.”

“You can explain it…during.” He placed another kiss under her ear, even more searing than the first.

“Sir.”

“New perspectives help in solving problems. And I know just the right thing to turn your world upside down. How’s that for analogy?”

“Jack.” She laughed and turned in his arms when he nuzzled the sensitive spot under her ear, sending pleasant shivers down her spine.

He put his best command face in place. “Don’t make me order you around.”

_Oh boy._ Heat surged through her. “As interesting as that sounds, I have to—”

“Oh, fer cryin’ out loud.” He groaned, when she wriggled out of his grip and took a few tools from the ground.

“I promised Daniel to take a look at the artifact from P3R-233 he can’t figure out.”

Hands buried in his pockets, Jack followed her as she walked into the next room. She looked around the smaller room they’d converted into a storage facility for all—mostly Ancient—artifacts brought back from missions, then walked up to a large device standing near the wall.

“How long’s this gonna take?”

She turned and picked up the file lying on a small table. Jack took one of the little devices lying there.

“Not long. I promised Daniel I’d do it yesterday, but I didn’t get around to it. I don’t want to disappoint him again.” She walked back to the device and touched the outer edges. Cold. Definitely metal. Most likely naquada. This was interesting. Usually naquada was used in devices generating huge energy outputs—such as the Stargate.

She narrowed her eyes and touched the shiny surface in the middle. At first glance she’d almost assumed it was a mirror, except that she couldn’t see a reflection. “According to the writings on its back, Daniel thinks this device might have been built by the Ancients.”

“Ah.” Jack played with a small artifact from the table. “What’s this for?”

Sam looked at the device in his hand and shrugged. “We don’t know. It doesn’t seem to do anything. McKay thinks the energy source might be depleted.”

“Empty battery?” He raised his eyebrows.

She smiled. “Yes, sir. You should have the report somewhere. I think it’s called ‘Unnamed Artifact Number 153’.”

“Yeah, about that.” He cleared his throat. “We really gotta talk about who’s responsible for naming things around here. I mean, Unnamed Artifact Number 153? Who the hell’s supposed to remember that?”

Sam trailed her fingers along the cold, smooth surface in front of her and chuckled. “Agreed, sir.”

Next to her, she heard Jack press some of the buttons with obvious impatience. Then he turned around and strolled back to the table, undoubtedly to pick up another artifact.

She was about to search the sides of the device for an access panel, when the black surface flickered. It lit up, then showed a reflection of the cave they stood in. A mirror. Except…

“Wow.”

“Wow what?” Jack’s voice drifted from behind her.

“Look at this. The screen isn’t black anymore.”

“What did you do?” He stepped up next to her, brows scrunched.

“Actually, I haven’t even touched it yet. That’s weird.” She leaned in closer. The reflection looked somewhat unreal. Tiny ripples distorted the image, as though it was reflected in a black see of oil. 

Next to her, Jack shifted. “So what is it? Something like a magic mirror?”

“I’m not sure, but I don’t think so, sir.” Now that she concentrated, there were differences in the reflection. The white walls weren’t white stone. They were ice. The ground was covered in ice. The table behind her stood empty. What on Earth would create such an effect? Was the surface still solid? She reached out, wanting to trail her fingers across the smooth black material.

“Whoa, wait a minute. You sure you wanna touch…” Jack’s hand closed around her wrist the second the pads of her fingers brushed the black surface. A noticeable jolt went through her. “…things before we know what…” Next to her, Jack trailed off.

The room around them changed rapidly. Snow covered the walls, the ground, the ceiling. The temperature plummeted, making her feel as though she’d just jumped into a pool of ice water. She shivered.

“What in the world…” Jack spun, his eyes wide.

Okay, good, so he saw it too. That meant she wasn’t going crazy.

“Carter?”

“Um.” Swallowing, she rubbed her arms as she looked around. “I’m not sure what happened.”

He frowned at her. “You know, this kinda thing’s exactly why I keep telling you scientists not to try everything out. That includes touching things.”

She flinched. “Sorry, sir.”

“Any chance this thing did something to the Aschen weather control system?”

“No, sir, I don’t think we’re dealing with a weather change here. I’m not sure what happened. I’m not even sure what activated the device.”

“Yeah, well, you better figure it out, because I’m not in the mood to freeze to death in a God forsaken ice—”

“Hands up!”

Heart pounding, Sam spun around. Two men in uniforms pointed P-90s at them. She raised her hands and glanced at Jack, then at the men. Where had they come from? They weren’t resistance. And what was with the heavy weaponry and the uniforms?

One of the soldiers faltered and his eyes grew wide. He leaned in to his colleague and whispered something, then the two men lowered their weapons.

“General O’Neill. Colonel Carter. I’m sorry, sir. We weren’t notified you’d be visiting. How did you… When did you… What are you doing here?”

Sam stared. “Colonel?”

“General?” Jack asked at the same time.

She glanced at Jack, and as he lowered his hands she did the same. “What’s going on?”

“You’re asking me?” He gave her a wry look.

The younger soldier reached for the radio in his vest pocket. “Dr. Weir, your assistance is required near the chair room.”

“Can it wait a few moments? I’m busy going through a few—”

“Unfortunately not.” The soldier eyed Jack, then Sam. “General O’Neill is here to see you, ma’am.”

 

***

 

“Hey. Easy there.” Jack grabbed the soldier’s arm when Carter flinched in his grip. “We won’t resist...”

“Sorry, sir, but these are my orders.” The soldier cuffed Carter’s hands behind her back.

“We won’t talk, no matter where you take us. Not unless you answer some of our questions first.” The sharp plastic bands the solider had bound his hands with cut into his flesh. Jack gritted his teeth. “You haven’t even charged us with a crime.”

“Impersonating two of the leading figures of the Stargate program is a serious offense. You’re lucky we’re not detaining you two as terrorists under the patriot act.” The soldier pushed Jack towards the door of the vehicle they’d spent the past couple of hours in.

“We’re not impersonating anybody.” Sam stepped towards the door, undoubtedly to avoid being pushed again.

“Really? So you’re telling me you _are_ Colonel Samantha Carter?”

“Yes, I am. Well, I’m not a colonel, but I _am_ Samantha Carter.”

“Carter.” Jack shook his head. “Don’t. He’s obviously just taking orders.”

She sighed. “Yes, sir.”

The back door of the vehicle opened and they were pushed outside. Jack blinked against the daylight. Odd vehicles, a large spiky fence. More of those grumpy looking soldiers in uniform. Where the hell were they?

When the soldier pushed him towards a heavy metal door, he decided it’d be better not to put up further resistance. For once, it’d be futile. Besides, he didn’t wanna endanger Carter—who looked about ready to jump down some throats. If he set the wrong example, she might just do that, and these soldiers didn’t look like they’d hesitate for long before using their weapons.

The soldier nodded at a security guard next to the door, then led them into the facility. They followed along a dimly lit corridor, and stepped into an elevator at the end.

Going down, judging by the pull of the centrifugal forces. Going very far down. He frowned. Where were these guys taking them? Deep underground in order to interrogate them before they got rid of them?

When the elevator finally dinged, he’d given up counting. It was useless anyway, since he didn’t know the speed they were going.

He stepped out. Another gray corridor. No windows, just like the last one. One look at Carter told him her initial anger had turned into concern.

He cleared his throat. “Listen. Let me talk to your superior. I’m sure this is all just a big misunderstanding.”

The soldier didn’t even acknowledge him. He pushed them both along the corridor until they reached another one of those heavy doors. Two soldiers were busy talking in front of it.

Jack narrowed his eyes at their interactions. All wore the same uniform. Definitely an army, but none like he’d ever seen. Earth didn’t have an army. And the Aschen’s uniform looked different. Had they maybe teleported to another planet? One that had the same Ancient underground facility?

This whole thing was giving him a headache. None of it made sense. Unless he’d had a stroke and this was all a bizarre dream.

He muttered a curse when one soldier pushed him into the room. Carter stumbled against him. The soldier removed the plastic band that held his hands behind his back, then did the same for Carter.

Without another word, the soldier left the room and slammed the door shut. Jack spun, scanning the room. No window, just a tiny ventilation shaft. A table and one narrow bed. Not exactly ideal.

“Any idea what’s going on here?” He turned to Sam.

She looked up at him, concern shadowed in her blue eyes. “Sorry, sir. None of this makes any sense.”

“Where the hell are we?”

“Well, sir, I’d say an underground facility judging from the long elevator—“

“No, Carter, not here in this room. I mean this planet. This world. What is this? This isn’t Earth. Is it?”

“These people speak our language, sir.” Sighing, she sat down on the chair at the table.

He growled and joined her at the table. “Yeah, well, so does half the galaxy. For reasons I still don’t understand.”

“Sir, back when the Goa’uld—“

“Carter. Daniel tried to explain it to me dozens of times. Now’s not the time.”

“Yes, sir.” She released a sigh, fidgeting. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry, sir. I know you’re angry with me. We wouldn’t be in this situation if I hadn’t played around with technology I don’t understand.”

“I’m not angry.” He gentled his voice. “We’re stuck in some kind of underground facility, probably awaiting interrogation. Placing blame isn’t at the top of my priority list right now. Let’s just find a way outta here.”

She gave him a weak smile. He brushed his hand over hers and raised his eyebrows. “Did you see their weird vehicles?”

“Yes, they produce some sort of fuel powered exhaust. Our scientists experimented with fuel-powered engines. The Aschen outlawed them because of the devastating effects on the environment.”

“Ah.” He nodded.

“Actually, I was more impressed by the size of the city we drove through. And the number of vehicles they had. This world seems to be heavily populated.” She scratched her head. “But how did we end up here? If this were another world, why did we start out in the Ancient underground facility?” She straightened. “Maybe these are Ancients?”

Jack raised his eyebrows. “I’m no expert, but none of what we’ve seen so far resembles the Ancient technology we’ve retrieved on missions.”

Carter slumped back in her chair. “You’re right. This technology looks almost primitive compared to the Aschen’s.”

The heavy metal door squeaked open. Jack looked up as a man entered. Next to him, Carter inhaled sharply.

It was like looking into a mirror. An oddly distorted mirror. The man who’d entered looked exactly like himself, just older. Stroke. He had to have had a stroke. It was the only reasonable explanation.

The man at the door released a groan. “Well, that’s…oddly familiar.”

Behind him, a woman entered. A second Carter. Also older. Both of them wore the same strange uniforms as the rest of the soldiers.

“Carter? What’s going on?” Jack asked at the same time as his older self. He raised his eyebrows. His counterpart did the same.

“Um.” Next to him, Sam shifted. “I have no idea, sir.”

The older Carter cleared her throat and turned to the older O’Neill. “Sir, these two were found last night at the Antarctica research station near McMurdo. Dr. Weir thought we’re dealing with impostors or clones created by the NID to infiltrate the SG-C. But I just received an image of the artifact discovered along with them at Antarctica.” She held a piece of paper out to the older man.

“Oh, fer cryin’ out loud. I thought Hammond ordered that damn thing destroyed years ago.”

“Sir, after we reviewed Daniel’s report of the original mission to P3R-355, we did theorize that the destruction might not have any effect. According to Doctor Carter and Catherine Langford in the alternate universe Daniel visited by accident, the other SG-1 had been on P3R-355 prior to Daniel’s arrival. They didn’t find a quantum mirror. Which means the instant Daniel stepped into that universe, the mirror recreated itself. Dr. Felger thinks it’s a failsafe built in by the Ancients. In case they visited a universe where the quantum mirror didn’t exist.”

The older O’Neill cleared his throat and gave her a frown.

Carter straightened. “It’s just a theory, sir, but it makes sense if you take into account the vast number of universes. The chances of stepping into one where a quantum mirror has been invented are miniscule. The Ancients who first built it would have risked creating a one-way traveling device that trapped its users in another universe with no way of getting back. We think the effect is triggered by the remote that—”

The older Jack rubbed his temples. “Carter! Bottom line this for me, will ya? They’re not impostors?”

“No, sir.” Older Carter dropped her arms.

“Excuse me.” Jack narrowed his eyes. “Could anybody explain to me what’s going on here? Carter?” He turned to look at his Sam.

“Um…to be honest, sir. I’m not sure I understand it myself.”

Older Carter smiled at her. “You stepped through a device which we call a Quantum Mirror. You switched from your universe over to ours.”

Sam stared at her. “So the device _is_ like the Stargate.”

Older Carter flinched. “Not quite. See, according to multiverse theory, a highly evolved theory of quantum physics in our universe, there’s an infinite number of universes that exist parallel to our own, one for every possible outcome. It’s based on the theory that everything that exists and can exist, actually does exist in some alternate form of our universe. We’ve come in contact with the effects by use of the Quantum Mirror a few times in the past.”

“Oh, I think I read about that.” Sam turned and beamed at him. “Sir, there’s a thesis by an Aschen scientist regarding the subject. He called it the “Theory of the Meta-Universe”.”

And she was telling him that…why? “Okay, so how does this help us?”

She swallowed. “It confirms one of the most debated theories among the Aschen science community, sir. We’ve just found proof that parallel universes exist next to our own. More than that, apparently the Ancients created a device allowing them to access those universes.”

“Okay.” Jack nodded, and held her gaze, a blank expression on his face. “So _how_ does this help us?”

“Um… I guess it doesn’t. Not really.”

“Excuse me.” Older Carter took a step towards Sam. “The Aschen science community?”

Sam nodded. “Yes. The Aschen made most of our scientific discoveries since they arrived. Most humans are forbidden to study the sciences. I’m surprised they allow you to work in science.”

Older Carter shook her head. “We don’t even have anything to do with the Aschen. We ran into them about three years ago, but we made sure not to let them get a foothold on Earth. They’re not very nice people in our universe.”

“Well, there’s something we got in common.” Jack growled. “Smart move. You know, not dealing with them and all.”

Older Jack shrugged with a blank expression. “Yeah, well, we have our moments.” He scratched his head, and turned to Older Carter. “Shouldn’t we send them back before that time-cascade stuff starts, and things turn ugly?”

“Sir.” Older Carter stared at him. “Don’t you want to know the reason for why they’re here? Up to now, there was always some profound impact on our reality whenever somebody visited. We gained valuable knowledge. It can’t be a coincidence they showed up here.”

“Actually.” Jack cleared his throat. Both their older versions turned to look at him. “It kinda was. Carter started touching things, and, well, here we are.”

“Now that…” Older Jack pointed a finger at the younger version of himself. “Sounds eerily familiar.”

Jack smirked when both Carters rolled their eyes. Just that the older one had the decency to amend her slip-up with a muttered “sorry, sir”.

Older Jack looked at his watch and sighed. “Listen. Why don’t we all go to the mess hall, have some cake, and you Carters can update each other on the techno-stuff. Since they’re obviously no impostors, there’s no need for heavy security.” He waved the guards in front of the door away.

“Um, Jack?” A familiar voice drifted from behind Older Jack.

_Oh, you gotta be kidding me._ Jack raised his eyebrows when Daniel—well, a somewhat older version of Daniel with shorter hair—entered the room. “Daniel.”

The archeologist folded his arms and looked at the older man. “Jack? What’s going on?”

“Um, Daniel, meet Carter and myself from another universe.” Older Jack looked around. “This just never gets old.”

“I guess the fact that they recognize me at least means I’m not dead where they come from.” Daniel pushed his glasses up on his nose, studying them.

Sam shook her head. “No, you’re not dead. Why would you think that?”

“Oh, I seem to have a tendency to, um, die in alternate universes.” Daniel smiled.

Older Jack gave him a wry look. “In _alternate_ universes?”

Daniel rolled his eyes at him.

Apparently very interesting things were going on in this universe. Maybe Carter—the other Carter—was right and this was worth a closer look.

Older Jack turned to Daniel. “We were about to go the commissary and have some cake. Why don’t you join us?”

“Yeah, um, sure.” Grinning, the archeologist turned around. “Too bad Teal’c’s off-world at the moment. He would’ve enjoyed this.”

 

***

 

Blue and transparent. Really? Who in their right mind would ever eat this kind of stuff? Sam winced as the wobbly mass dropped from her spoon back down into the glass. She lifted her gaze. Her older counterpart swallowed some of it.

“You should try it, it’s delicious.”

“And you’re sure this stuff’s edible?”

“Yeah. I eat it all the time.”

Okay. Well, in that case. Hesitantly, she moved the spoon into her mouth. Odd consistency. Sweet taste, but not too sweet. Delicious. “Oh, this _is_ really good.”

“The blue one’s the best.”

They grinned at each other. Then Sam realized the three men sitting at the same table gave them wide-eyed stares. Brows raised, she turned her head and looked from Older Jack to Daniel, to her Jack.

“What?” She and her counterpart asked in unison.

Older Jack shook his head. “Okay, that’s just plain eerie.”

“No kidding.” Jack took another piece of cake.

Sam chuckled. As if watching him and his counterpart both eat cake and wriggle their fork around with that same blank expression on their faces was any less odd.

Older Carter smiled at her. “So, I think we’ve established the determining factors for the differences in our realities. In our universe, the Aschen didn’t have their own dialing device. They could never venture out into the galaxy because they didn’t have many gate addresses, and relied on outside sources for obtaining coordinates. They only dialed a few planets in their immediate proximity.”

Sam took another spoonful of blue. “In our universe, the Aschen devised a program to control the dialing device with their own computers.”

“Wow. That means they must have been to many planets.” Older Carter played with her spoon.

“Yes, they have a huge confederation of planets. But what about your universe? If the Aschen never gained that kind of power, does that mean…?”

Older Carter nodded. “Earth is free. But in our galaxy, the Goa’uld are the ruling power. We’re working with the Tok’ra and some rebel Jaffa to overthrow them, and so far we’ve taken quite a few down. One of the rebel Jaffa is part of SG-1 actually. Teal’c.”

“We didn’t know there were rebel Jaffa.” Jack played with a piece of cake on his fork.

“Well.” Daniel leaned back in his chair. “In your reality they might not exist if the Goa’uld are only a minor force.”

“What about the Tok’ra?” Older Sam looked up.

Sam scrunched her brows. “Who are they?”

“They’re the Goa’uld’s version of resistance against the system lords. They’ve existed for millennia. If the differences in our universes only date back a few hundred years, they might exist in yours.”

“Wow. A Goa’uld resistance? We didn’t even consider the possibility there might be such a thing.”

“Well, what about the Asgard?” Older Jack eyed a piece of cake he balanced on a fork in front of him. “They made this whole protected planets treaty a coupla millennia ago. Shouldn’t they do something about the Aschen?”

Sam fought a smile. Those two men were so eerily similar in their behavior, their gestures, and their looks. She cleared her throat. “Asgard?”

“They’re a very advanced race from another galaxy, who, at least in our universe, made a treaty with the Goa’uld to protect life on certain planets.” Daniel looked at Older Jack. “Jack, I don’t think the protective planet's treaty would include the Aschen. In our universe, that's an agreement between the Asgard and the Goa'uld. You've seen how the Asgard react when protected worlds are threatened by other races or even natural catastrophes.”

Older Jack rolled his eyes. “After all the times we’ve saved their grey little asses you’d think they’d be more grateful.”

Older Sam stifled a giggle.

Daniel cleared his throat. “Besides, the Asgard might have never even set foot into our galaxy in their reality.”

“Too bad.” Jack straightened. “Sounds like they’re powerful enough of be of real help.”

“Yeah.” Older Jack grimaced. “I wouldn’t count on it.”

“Okay, now I have a question.” Jack turned to Sam and her older counterpart. “You say we’ve switched universes. But what’s with this time travel thing?”

“Sir?” Sam raised her eyebrows.

“Well, look at them. They’re older than we are, aren’t they? As far as I’ve understood—and correct me if I am wrong—the mirror lets us travel to another universe. To the same point in time. Shouldn’t we be, you know, the same age and all?”

She smiled at him. He had actually listened to their conversation. Her heart warmed. “Technically, you’re absolutely right.”

“I am?” He looked at almost startled as though he were surprised, then a proud smile played around his lips. Damn, he was cute. “But why does it look as though we were transported into the future?”

“I think the effect we’re seeing is the result of the differences in our universes. It might also result from the Aschen vaccines that double our lifespan.” Sam turned to her older counterpart. “What year is it for you?”

“2004.”

She turned back to Jack. “I think that’s the same year. Daniel—our Daniel—once told me that, before the Aschen arrived, we used a religious measurement of counting years. The last year we counted that way was 1204. That’s the year the Aschen arrived on Earth. This year we marks the eight-hundredth anniversary of the Aschen arrival, so if you add up those two, you get 2004.”

Older Carter pushed her empty bowl to the middle of the table. “That, and with all the differences in our realities, it’s not unreasonable to assume you might have been born a few years later than we were. Theoretically, it’s possible.”

Older Jack stared at her. “But with all the differences, the decline in their population… How likely is it that all of us—you, me, Daniel, Janet—would still be born?” He poked the last piece of cake on his plate.

“Well…”

“Actually…”

Sam shifted her gaze to her counterpart. Older Carter looked as clueless as she felt, before she shrugged. “It is possible, sir. If all of our ancestors were born and met. It’s also possible to have variations that still lead to the same result. I’ll admit, the chances for it happening are remote, but not impossible. There are probably quite a few universes out there where something similar happened. There must also be a lot of universes where we don’t even exist.”

“You know, I’ll never get this whole alternate universe stuff.” Older Jack rubbed his temples.

Next to Sam, Jack shifted. “Yeah. Which universe is actually real?”

“I asked that question.” Older Jack straightened and looked at older Carter. “Didn’t I ask that question?”

Older Carter smiled. “Well, sirs, there’s an infinite number of universes, all of which are equally real.”

Older Jack groaned. “This is giving me a headache.”

“Sorry, sir.”

Smirking, Jack nudged Sam. “He’s right, some things are the same here.”

She giggled and trailed her fingers across his arm under the table. “What I’d like to know is, how do we get back? You said the mirror transported us here, so can we return to our own universe using it?”

“Yes.” Older Sam nodded. “I already sent out the order for the device to be shipped here. It’s on its way as we speak. And since you had the remote on you, returning should be simple. According to Dr. Weir, the mirror wasn’t shut off.”

“Wait, what? What remote?” Sam stared at her.

Older Sam pulled a device out of her pocket and placed it on the table. Unnamed Artifact Number 153. Sam groaned and turned her head to Jack, who looked equally dumbfounded.

“Oh my God. Sir. This is why the mirror suddenly started working. I was wondering how that happened, because I’d barely touched anything. You activated it with the remote.”

Jack swallowed visibly, then shifted. “You told me this thing didn’t do anything.”

“That’s what we thought.” She picked up the remote and studied it. “There was no measurable current. We never even considered the possibility it might be tied to another artifact.”

“Yeah, well.” Jack cleared his throat. “Let’s not dwell, but focus on getting back, shall we?” He looked at Older Jack. “You will let us return, right?”

“Of course. Besides, even if we wanted to keep you here, we couldn’t because of that cascading… Carter?” He looked at Older Sam.

She nodded. “If you don’t return to your own universe soon, you’ll both experience entropic cascade failure. Two versions of the same person cannot exist in the same universe without creating a severe disruption.”

Sam raised her brows and caught Jack’s gaze as she turned. “Carter?”

“Dr. Kearen theorized in his paper about the Aschen Metaverse Theory, that it’s physically impossible for two identical particles from different universes to remain in the same universe for long. If I understand it correctly, their universe will practically start pushing us out by force.”

“Ouch. That sounds painful.”

“Yeah.” Older Jack grimaced. “Not a pretty sight either.”

“It’ll ultimately result in your death, but the effect only shows after about forty-eight hours. Counting your short detainment in Antarctica and your transport here, you’ve been here for about sixteen hours, so you should be fine.” Older Sam leaned back in her chair and folded her arms. “I ordered the mirror to be transported here as soon as Dr. Weir emailed a picture of it.”

“So, now what?” Jack looked from Sam to her older counterpart. “We just sit back and wait?”

Older Jack cleared his throat. “Carter, why don’t you take, um, yourself to your lab and see that you compile files of all the information useful to these two. Daniel, you do the same. Find them some information on stuff we encountered. Like the location of Tok’ra bases in our universe, info about the Goa’uld and their technology. Our files on the Aschen. The Ancients. Ancient Egypt. You get the idea.”

“Sir, you do realize, it’s unlikely the Tok’ra will have their bases on the same planets in their universe?”

Older Jack shrugged. “Copy the material anyway. And I want that mirror destroyed as soon as they’re back in their own reality, universe, whatever.”

“That might not have any effect at all.”

“I don’t care, Carter. I don’t want this damn thing standing around.”

“Yes, sir.”

 

***

 

“So, no politics, eh?”

Jack smirked. “Nope.”

He and his counterpart strolled through the cement-gray corridors of the underground base. During the past few hours, Jack had learned to ignore the half-confused, half-fascinated glances, soldiers and scientists who passed by threw at them. To be honest, he’d probably have that same look on his face if he weren’t affected.

“Damn, I wish I didn’t have to deal with those Washington goons.” Older Jack released a long sigh.

Yeah, Jack didn’t envy the man. From what he’d heard, the government seemed very counterproductive to getting anything done. How little the resistance would’ve accomplished had he been forced to clear every single one of his steps with some bureaucrat who had no practical idea of what was going on.

And here he’d always thought filing everything that happened into a report for the archives was a nuisance. This universe was ridiculous in comparison.

“You know, your universe sounds like a pretty comfortable place. Aschen aside.”

“Yeah, I noticed you got a few problems here. According to Carter, those engines in your vehicles were outlawed by the Aschen because of their devastating effects on the environment. I’m sure she could provide you with Aschen technologies to replace them.”

“The problem isn’t lack of technology. We have powerful lobbies who have monetary interests in the way things are here.”

“Ah.” Jack flinched. “Politics again?”

“Yeah. Always comes down to those bureaucrats in Washington. And whomever they received their campaign funding from.”

“Their what?” Jack stared at him.

Older Jack waved it off. “Not important. Finer details of our government.”

Again, Jack nodded.

They grew silent as they approached Carter’s laboratory. The other Carter’s laboratory. Damn, this was confusing. Hopefully they could return to their own universe soon. With only one Carter. His.  

The women’s voices drifted out into the hallway. Apparently, they were still immersed in their technobabble. Carter—his—wouldn’t’ be thrilled if he told her the mirror had arrived. They could return home. And with that cascading failure thing threatening to hit, he didn’t wanna take any chances.

Neither of the women noticed them entering the room. Daniel had joined them. Two large boxes, apparently filled with files, rested on the desk.

Daniel grinned at them. “Jack _s_.” Oh, he was enjoying this, wasn’t he? Funny, the Daniel in his universe would’ve too.

“Jack.” Sam beamed at him. His heart jumped. As much as her technobabble annoyed him sometimes, her sweet enthusiasm made up for it. “You won’t believe all the information that—”

“Carter.” He smirked. Just in time. He’d felt a scientific lecture coming that would have left him dizzy. “You and Daniel—our Daniel—will have all the time in the world to read through the materials and brief me in detail. Once we’re back in our universe. To be honest, that cascading thing worries me.”

“Oh, you should still be safe.” Older Carter gave him that same beaming smile.

Damn. Jack swallowed. Two of them wooing him with that smile was even worse. On the other hand… Interesting possibilities opened up. _Bad train of thought. Very bad._

“Carter.” Older Jack stepped towards the desk and raised his brows as he looked over the chaos of files and books. “I’d still prefer they left as soon as possible. Having that damn mirror standing around in my office makes me a little queasy. Besides, in exactly two hours my daily report to the president is due. I don’t wanna give those NID guys a chance to come up with a reason for holding them here.”

“Yes, sir.”

Sam sighed and closed the book. “Too bad. I would have loved to learn more about your quantum physics theories. You guys are so much more advanced than we are. The Aschen don’t give us access to their scientific research.”

Older Sam smiled at her. “Take the book.” She handed it to Sam.

“Oh, no, I can’t accept this.”

“I’ll just buy new ones on amazon.” Older Carter grinned, then she scrunched her brows. “Actually, why don’t you…” She went to one of the shelves in the corner, and started pulling out books here and there.

Older Jack frowned. “Um, Carter?”

“I know, sir, they’re Air Force property. If you insist I’ll replace them all myself.” She pulled three thick volumes from the shelf.

“There’s that.” Older Jack’s brows climbed as the pile of books grew larger. “But I was more thinking along the lines of, how are they supposed to carry all this?”

Good question. Jack folded his arms.

“Oh.” Older Sam looked around, then leaned up to pull one of the boxes down from the shelf. After a critical look inside, she emptied the contents onto a chair and placed the books in the box. When she was done, she beamed at them. “Here.” She placed the box on the table. “These are all the recent publications on quantum mechanics, wormhole physics, and some basic introductory volumes used at universities.”

“Thank you.” Sam ran her fingers over the cover of the book lying on top as though it was the most precious treasure anybody had ever given her. God, he loved that woman. “You have no idea how invaluable all of this is.”

Jack leaned against the wall behind him. How ironic, that even in this universe their counterparts knew each other. Were friends. Maybe even more? He’d never believed in the romantic notion of fate, but what were the odds? With all the differences, they had still met. 

Daniel approached him. “Hey, can I ask you something?” He threw an odd sidelong glance at Older Jack.

“Sure.” Jack nodded.

“We’ve met a couple of alternate universe ‘yous’ in the past. And all of them were…” He cleared his throat. “Well, all of you were together.” He nodded towards Sam. “Are you two…?”

“Yeah.” Jack nodded. He looked at his older version, who’d grown conspicuously quiet. “You and her aren’t…?”

The older man cleared his throat. “Not really, no. It’s against regulations. I’m her commanding officer.”

Another one of those finer political details that made him glad all he had to deal with was reports. And the Aschen. “That the only reason?”

Daniel readjusted his glasses with visible interest.

Older Jack coughed.

Damn, maybe it wasn’t wise to meddle in the relationship between the two. “I mean, I’m her superior, but so far it’s working great.”

“It’s not just that. She’s kinda with somebody else.”

“Pete.” Daniel folded his arms.

“Pete?” Jack stared at him. One thing was for sure. If he ever came across a guy named Pete in his universe, he’d be very careful around him.  

“Yeah. Apparently he’s a cop or something.” Again, Older Jack cleared his throat and shrugged as though he didn’t care. His facial expression told an entirely different story.

Both Sams had gone quiet, undoubtedly overhearing their conversation. Older Sam lowered her eyes without looking at her superior officer.

Jack caught Sam’s gaze and gave her a subtle nod. Apparently they’d stepped into a bee’s nest with that conversation. Excellent time to leave. Sam picked up the box with her books, and Jack walked to the desk to take the ones with the files.

“So you two met in the resistance?” Older Sam eyed him, curiosity mixing with something else on her face. Regret?

Jack studied her. The way she looked at him and his older counterpart. Her awkwardness. Her dilating pupils. Definitely attraction. Probably more, judging from her facial expression. Well, it wasn’t his business.

“Kinda.” Jack nodded. “Her father set us up, so we were already married when we met. I didn’t know who she was, though. And she didn’t know I was the guy her father’d chosen.”

“Dad?” Older Sam’s eyes widened.

Sam gave a quick summary of how her father’d informed her of her marriage, and how she’d run away.

Older Jack stared at her. “Jacob? Your dad set you two up?”

“Yeah.”

Older Jack’s eyes gleamed. “Gotta love dad.” He grinned at older Carter, who attempted a nonchalant smile and failed. Clearing his throat, he became serious again. “You were opposed to the arrangement, then met by chance and fell in love unaware of your identities?”

“Pretty much.” Jack nodded and picked up the boxes.

“I’m sorry, but am I the only one who thinks this sounds like one of those cliché romance novels?”

Now that he mentioned it… “Actually, it does a little bit.” Jack turned around.

Both Sams stared at Older Jack, who cleared his throat once more. “Well, I’m just saying. Somebody should write the author a letter. Or something.”

Older Sam failed to cover up a chuckle. Apparently a desired effect. A smirk played around Older Jack’s mouth. “Alright kids, shall we?”

 

***

 

Through the reflective surface of the quantum mirror in front of them, the underground cave of Antarctica shimmered like a distant dream. Swallowing hard, Sam turned.

Older Sam, Older Jack, Daniel… They all smiled. They’d never see each other again. “Thank you for everything. You have no idea how much this information will help us.”

She pulled her counterpart into a close hug, then squeezed her hands.

Older Sam smiled. “Kick the Aschen’s butt.”

“Will do.” Sam turned to Daniel and took the box of books he held. “Thank you, Daniel.”

“I left a note in there for the Daniel in your universe.” The archeologist waved at a note on top of the books. “A lot of my notes point to material in other files. There’s a reference sheet on top of the first file. And—”

“Daniel.” Older Jack placed a hand on his arm. “He’s smart. I’m sure he’ll figure it out.”

Sam looked at him. The future version of _her_ Jack. Gray hair. The fine lines around his eyes, but deeper, more distinguished. That same warm sparkle in his eyes, that same smirk. Handsome. Her stomach fluttered. Age really suited him. “Sir.” If only her voice didn’t tremble so much. “Thank you.”

“Always.” He touched her arm. His warmth burned through her shirt. Same face, different man. And yet… Always. That same promise her Jack had once given her. Her heart swelled as she turned to step back towards the quantum mirror.

“Jack.” Jack cleared his throat. “Thanks.”

“Pshaw. Here, I had Carter make you this.” Older Jack handed him a crystal.

Jack stared at it, obviously clueless as to what to do with it.

“It’s a Goa’uld storage crystal. I had one of our scientists put some episodes of the Simpsons on there. I’m sure your Carter will figure out how to access it.”

Sam glanced at the crystal. “Shouldn’t be a problem, sir. What are ‘Simpsons’?”

“Ah, that’s just, you know, a tv show. Every universe should have a Homer.”

Older Sam lowered her head to hide a chuckle.

“Thank you. I guess.” Jack turned to Older Carter. “Um, Carter.”

“Sir.”

He turned to Sam. “Ready?”

“Ready, sir.” She looked at her box of books. Jack turned to the table and picked up the two boxes of files.

“Oh, wait.” Older Sam pulled the remote—Unnamed Artifact Number 153—out of her back pocket, and placed it on top of the files. “You might still need that.”

Jack winced. “I think we’re gonna follow your example and destroy this mirror as soon as we’re back.”

Sam stared at him. “But sir. Think of all the—”

“Carter.”

She flinched. He was right, of course. From what her other self had told her, this quantum mirror usually caused more problems than it was worth. “Yes, sir.”

Jack nudged her. She gave him a smile.

“So.” He scrunched his brows. “How do we do this? Just touch it?”

“Yes, sir.” Sam reached out her hand.

Jack hooked the two boxes under his arm, then followed her example.

A jolt shot through Sam, then her surroundings changed in a dizzying flash. Office walls and bookshelves morphed into smooth gray walls. The temperature plummeted a few degrees. The scent of pines and earth filled her nostrils.

Next to her, Jack withdrew his hand from the device. “Wow.”

Sam smiled at the surface of the mirror. Their older reflections stared back at them, like the distant memory of a strange dream. Older Sam lifted her hand and waved.

Then the surface turned black and the books she carried were the only reminder of their glimpse into that bizarre other universe.


	36. Sunrise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> This version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).
> 
>  
> 
> Now you can also find an ebook version of this story on my website, including lots of bonus material as well as the first publication version of Stargate Aschen. (Click image to download.)  
> 
> 
>   
>  [](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-free-stargate-sg-1-ebook/)   
>    
> 

Sam drew a deep breath. Pine-scented, crisp night air filled her nostrils. The camp lay still except for occasional chatter from the people on watch.

Sleep. Not something she wanted to do yet. Especially because she’d spend another night alone. Jack was still on the on-world mission he’d left for about a week ago. He was scheduled to be gone for two more days.

How was it that suddenly the days when she didn’t see him had become so much gloomier? She sighed and wrapped her arms around herself. Above her the milky way glistened with millions of stars. No moonlight polluted the view tonight. If only the days would pass faster.

Not even the files they’d brought back from the alternate universe could replace the anticipation of having dinner with Jack every day.

A dark figure holding a flashlight came trudging up the hill. She tensed momentarily before she recognized one of the new recruits.

“Good evening, ma’am.”

She’d never get used to hearing them call her ma’am, even if holding the rank of ensign meant, she outranked them. “Evening, recruit. And good night.”

How odd. Not even a year ago, she’d been the new one. Now camp had become her home, and at night, she found her way around even during a new moon without a flashlight. Awareness of how much time had passed crashed over her. Suddenly she was the one helping them through their first days, keeping the Stargate a secret, always aware she’d most likely never see them again.

Jason. A small sting burned in her heart when she remembered her friend. How many of those new recruits would die before they even made their third month? Bad train of thought. Jason had been an exception, at least in their cell.

But what about the others she’d trained with? Wong and Reyes? How were they doing? Chances were, she’d never hear anything about them again. Better not to get close to any of the recruits until she knew they were gonna become part of Cell 4.

She shivered against a crisp breeze rustling through the pine trees and quickened her steps downhill. As she almost reached the tent, a movement caught her eye. She turned. Somebody lay on the fallen tree trunk next to the tent. Swallowing, she took a step closer.

As recognition hit her, euphoria filled her veins. “Jack.”

He turned his head with a smile and shifted to a sitting position. “Hey.”

“I thought you’d be gone for two more days. When did you get back?”

“A couple of hours ago. Things got done faster than expected. I was about to raid the science tents for you.” Grinning, he grabbed her wrist and drew her close. When she stood in front of him, he buried his face against her belly and inhaled. Then he froze and looked up, eyebrows raised. “Why do you smell burnt?”

She ran her fingers through his soft, ruffled hair. “There was a minor misunderstanding during one of the experiments today. It started a little fire.”

He straightened. “Did somebody get hurt?” Uh, oh. Full command mode.

She shook her head. “No, don’t worry.”

“Did we lose any equipment?”

“No, sir, it was just a minor explosion.”

“ _Explosion_?” He stared at her. “Carter, I don’t usually hear the words _just_ and _minor_ in the same sentence as the word explosion. Care to elaborate?”

“It’s nothing, sir. We were examining one of the new pieces of technology. Somebody accidentally set the voltage of the generating unit too high. The entire thing blew up when we turned it on. Occupational hazard. We lost the artifact.” She sighed.

He relaxed against her. Apparently that answered all his questions.

“So, how was your trip?” she asked.

“It was okay.” He trailed his hands along her waist and hips, before his fingers opened her belt and tugged her shirt out of the waistband of her pants. Sam held her breath when he pulled her shirt up and put his hot mouth against her belly button.

His lingering caress sent heat shooting through her abdomen. She fisted her hand in his hair. “Jack…”

“Mmhmm?” The sound vibrated against her skin. Damn, he knew exactly what he was doing to her, didn’t he? Pleasant shivers danced down her spine. Over two weeks ago, they’d returned from his cabin. No more days on end, no more spontaneous, uninterrupted alone-time. She missed the intimacy and the seclusion of the cabin.

She needed him, wanted to sleep with him without having to worry about people nearby. One week of separation had only made her yearning worse. She lowered herself, buried her face in his hair, then pulled him close. His strong arms wrapped around her, and she quivered at the increased contact. “I want you.”

When he lifted his head, a smirk played around his lips. His fingers tangled in her hair, and then he pulled her in for a long, dizzying kiss, reinforcing his claim on her. Need flared up inside her. She panted and stared at him.

He grinned. “How about I take you to our tent and have my way with you for the rest of the night?”

Behind Sam, a man coughed. She froze and turned her head only to catch sight of Daniel grinning at them. Flinching, she closed her eyes.

“Jack.”

Jack leaned back, visibly unhappy about the disturbance. “Daniel.”

“I just heard you’re back. I wanted to talk to you about that mission to P85-2X3 we have scheduled in two weeks. We have to change that. Another destination looks a lot more promising as far as—”

“Yeah, Daniel.” Jack cleared his throat. “I’m kinda busy right now.”

“That was obvious. And audible.”

Sam felt her cheeks burn. “Oh God.” She buried her face against Jack’s neck. Always people around. Not one minute of privacy. Not even in their own tent because the walls were so damn thin.

Jack’s hand pressed her closer. “Daniel, can’t it wait until tomorrow? I haven’t seen Carter for a week.”

“Um, okay, yeah. Sure.” The archeologist nodded and turned. “No problem. You two have fun.”

When he’d left, Jack’s chuckle washed warm down her neck. “Well, that was unexpectedly easy.”

Sam giggled against his shoulder and lifted her head. “You were saying? About the tent?”

“We could turn all the lights off—you know, for privacy—and cuddle up close in the sleeping bag.”

“Naked?”

He smirked. “Yeah sure, ya betcha. And we could just get creative about being really quiet while we—”

“Colonel O’Neill.”

“Oh, fer cryin’ out loud.” Jack groaned. “Doctor McKay.”

Sam sighed in resignation. At this rate they were never gonna get any privacy.

McKay came closer. “I heard you were back. I need someone to take the puddle jumper for a test ride as soon as possible. I spent the last two days taking out the independent subsystem and rerouting the power. With the subsystem gone, the jumper’s hyperdrive is functional again, and we gotta make sure it can’t be accidentally activated. Sheppard’s busy training the recruits and he basically threw me out, so I was wondering if you have an hour to—”

“It’s—” Jack lifted his wrist to look at his watch. “—one in the morning. Can’t that wait ‘til after breakfast?”

Rodney gave one of his theatrical sighs. “I’m stuck until somebody confirms it’s working. I wanted to get on improving—”

“Oh, for God’s sake. Go to sleep.” Jack shook his head and stared at Sam. “Doesn’t anybody here sleep anymore?”

“Um, well.” Rodney seemed perplexed by the question. Sam stifled a giggle.

Jack closed his eyes, inhaled and released a sigh. “I’ll look into it first thing in the morning. I just returned from a week of on-world duties. Gimme a break, will ya?”

“Alright. I guess in the morning is better than nothing.” The scientist pouted as he turned and walked away.

Sam smiled. “They’re not gonna leave you alone now they know you’re back.”

“I’m realizing that.”

“If you want to take care of camp duties—”

“What I _want_ is to spend some time with you.” He pulled her close, then took her lips in a gentle kiss. “And I just got an idea how to accomplish that. Come with me.”

He entwined their fingers and pulled her with him. Uphill, towards the science camp. What, was he going to hide in her work tent? Sam bit her lower lip to stifle another giggle. Surely nobody would search for him there.

Her amusement turned into concern when he took a right turn and headed for McKay’s tent. What on Earth was he doing? “Jack?”

“Rodney wanted me to give the puddle jumper a test ride.” His eyes gleamed when he looked at her. “So I changed my mind. Why not do that right now?”

“Oh. I don’t think that’s a good—“

“Don’t tell me you never fantasized about having sex in a spaceship.” He actually looked smug.

She folded her arms. “I haven’t.” Although, now that he mentioned it…

“Think about it.” He drew her close and gave her earlobe a nip. “Thick walls, nobody around for miles.”

Sounding better by the second. She grinned. “Let’s go.” Then her brain kicked back in. “But we can’t leave without telling him we’re taking the jumper.”

“We’re not.”

She groaned. “Jack, he’ll want to come with if you tell him.”

“Carter.” With a shake of his head, he opened the flap of McKay’s tent. “You gotta give me more credit than that.” He pulled her inside.

A chaos of files, gadgets, and tools lay scattered on McKay’s desk, but he wasn’t there.

She frowned. “Where is he?”

Jack’s eyes twinkled. “I saw him head for the food tent. I’m gonna leave him a note.”

Her heart sped up, and she had to suppress an excited laugh. _This might actually work. Alone. With Jack. In a starship. Nobody around._

She watched Jack scribble a few words on a piece of paper.

_McKay. Took the jumper out for your test ride. Be back soon. O’Neill._

He placed the note on top of one of the instruments that lay on the desk, then grinned at her. “Come on. Let’s hurry, before he gets back.”

 

***

 

Jack smiled when Sam sat back down on the co-pilot’s chair, her gaze fixed on the horizon. The puddle jumper glided effortlessly across the dark water’s surface.

“It was just a minor fluctuation in the engines. I don’t think it’s connected to McKay’s adjustments, but I’ll still make a note.” She returned his smile.

“So, notice anything else that’s odd?”

“No, why?” She leaned over and looked at the controls. Her scent filled his nostrils. “Any problems?”

He smirked. “No. Just making sure we can declare the test flight a success. Shall we test the hyper drive?”

“Not a good idea, sir.” She leaned back in her chair. “The Aschen can detect hyperspace activity, and even though we’re cloaked—”

“Gotcha.” He nodded. “So… where do you wanna go?”

“How about the moon?” Her eyes gleamed. Clearly a joke. Well, she should know him better than that.

“The moon it is.” Almost immediately the jumper reacted to his command and did a sharp turn up towards the sky.

“Jack.” Eyes wide, Sam clasped the armrests of her chair.

“I wanted to see how fast this thing can fly in space anyway.”

“This doesn’t happen to have anything to do with your little bet?”

He looked at her in surprise. How the hell did she know about that?

Her eyes sparkled. “Sheppard spilled that you two are competing about who breaks whose speed record.”

“All in the interest of science, of course.”

“Right.”

Wryness? Wasn’t that _his_ field of expertise? He focused his gaze on the view ahead of him. Smoothly, the jumper glided through the clouds, higher and higher, until the stars above became clearer. He almost didn’t notice when they left Earth’s atmosphere.

“Wow.” Next to him, Sam leaned forward. Damn, that look on her face was worth the trip. “Be careful not to activate the hyper drive by accident, sir. We don’t know how quickly the jumper responds to thoughts.”

He chuckled. “Carter, you can’t tell me not to think of something.”

“Sorry, sir.” She leaned back, looking out into the black vastness of space. Her eyes took on that far away, distant look, as though she was contemplating some scientific fact or theory.

“Looking at the stars and being among them doesn’t quite compare, does it?” His gaze met hers when she turned her head. The light reflecting from the moon made her eyes sparkle azure. 

“No, it doesn’t.”

He wanted to lean in, kiss those lips of hers until science was the last thing on her mind. A few alarms beeped, and he cleared his throat. Damn, he had to keep his focus lest they tumble down onto the moon’s surface.

In front of him, the pale rocky landscape of the moon lay calm and peaceful. The jumper slowed as if anticipating his intention to prepare for a soft landing. With an ever so gentle bump, the ship finally set down on the ground.

Next to him, Sam released a breath. “Oh my God.”

Earth shimmered in front of them like a blue crystal in the darkness. Their planet. The planet they were fighting for. Home.

The jumper communicated some values to him. _Outer temperature: 89 degrees. Atmosphere: non-existent. Carbon-based lifeforms not supported. Protective shielding and artificial life support required._

As if he wanted to take a stroll on the surface. Wait, they were safe in the jumper, right?

_Outer hull sufficient to shield against solar radiation. Inner temperature: 21 degrees. Consistent. No danger imminent._

Cool. Now why couldn’t scientists communicate this efficiently?

“Jumper says we’re safe here.” He grinned at her.

Her eyes twinkled. “Sounds like soon you won’t need me anymore.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that.” He reached out and pulled her over into his lap. She relaxed against him, and he lost himself in her eyes. Her hands cupped his cheeks. Maybe he should have shaved earlier in the shower. Ah, well… She didn’t seem to care, so he wouldn’t worry about it.

She leaned in and captured his mouth. Her lips were so soft. Sweet, gentle and so delicious. Heat stabbed at his groin. Damn, he’d missed her. One week of on-world business, meetings with the leaders of Cell 1 and Cell 9, weapons acquisitions and of course recruit requirements. Overall boring, but necessary.

If only he could’ve taken her with him to warm his bed at night. Might have made the week a little more bearable. But he was bound by secrecy. Carter was too low in rank for him to reveal information about resistance procedures, so that wasn’t an option. Maybe someday…

He trailed his palms along her waist, the soft curve of her hip and up to the small of her back. How could she melt into him so perfectly? The blue of her eyes turned a darker shade as she held his gaze.

He leaned back and studied her. “I’d turn the gravity off for a full space experience, but that might not be as hot as it sounds.”

“Yeah.” She bit her lower lip in a futile attempt to stifle her giggle. “I don’t think the no gravity experience would do it for me. Although I like being adventurous.”

“Adventurous, huh? Do tell.”

**_{SHORTENED to keep this version M-rated! You can find the[full version on my website](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-chapter-36-sunrise/).}_ **

He broke the kiss and withdrew from her, allowing her to turn around. She lifted her hand and traced the wrinkles around his chestnut-brown eyes, then ran them through his ruffled hair. He was so handsome. So gentle. Warmth spread through her. So… She swallowed and studied his features.

“What?” Jack’s hand caressed along her back.

“Nothing. It’s just that…” Yeah. What was it? “A few months ago, I’d have never thought you and I…that we—”

_Beep---beep---beep---_

Both turned their heads. Controls flashed on the main console.

“I better check that.” Jack placed a kiss against her forehead and got up. He quickly pulled on his pants, and picked up her shirt lying on the ground next to him.

She looked up when he held it out to her, and her fingers clasped the black garment. “Jack.”

When he turned his head, she held his gaze, swallowing hard. “You are…I mean…I really didn’t think I would…I… I missed you…”

A smile tugged at his lips. “I know.” He leaned down and drew her into a quick kiss. “Me too.”

She looked at his back when he walked to the front of the ship and slid into the pilot’s chair. What was going on with her? They’d grown so comfortable, why was it so hard to tell him how much she’d missed him?

She pulled her shirt over her head, then reached for the rest of her clothing. The intensity with which she missed him made her pulse race. When had that happened, that not seeing him made her want to skip the day?

Sighing, she buttoned her pants and picked up Jack’s shirt.

“Problems?” Brows scrunched, she ran a hand through her tousled hair to order it as she stepped into the pilot’s cabin.

“No, just a warning for an increase in radiation.”

“Increase in radiation?” She raised her brows as she stared at the controls. “What’s the origin?”

He smirked. “Carter. Look up.”

She did, and the breath caught in her throat. Earth lay in front of them, blue broken by green and white, and right next to it…

“Lunar sunrise.” She stared out towards the small dot of light appearing from behind Earth. Of course. Tonight had been a new moon. And they’d parked in the exact right position on the moon.

She turned her head to stare at him. Had he picked this spot on purpose?

“C’mere.” He pulled her close. She threaded her fingers through his hair as they watched the tiny dot of the sun appear from behind Earth.

Earth. Their planet. He’d taken her out here to see this. Her heart swelled and she leaned in to kiss him tenderly. “Thank you.”

“What for?” He raised his brows.

“This.” She smiled.

He squeezed her arm gently. “Anytime. Hey, if you wanna take a look around… I mean, since we’re up here anyway?” He took his shirt from her and pulled it over his head.

“We could take a closer look at the sun.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Whoa, Carter. Easy there. I was thinking about circling the Earth. Or getting a bit closer to Mars.”

“Well, we wouldn’t get dangerously close to the sun without using the hyper drive anyway.” She smiled. “Come on… Where’s your sense of adventure.”

“It disappears when it comes to deadly radiation,” Jack said. “Here’s an idea. Why don’t I take you to a nice warm Carribean island and we’ll watch Earth’s sunrise?”

Images of warm ocean water and beach sand flooded her mind. “That sounds incredible. Can we take a swim in the ocean?”

“Most definitely.”

She leaned in to his ear. “How about some sex on the beach?”

“Oh, I don’t know… There’s places you really don’t wanna have that sand.” He bit her neck playfully and she laughed.

“It’ll be an interesting experiment.”

“Well, who am I to dispute that?” He chuckled.

Sam sat down in the co-pilot’s chair as Jack started the jumper engines. As if it were weightless, the ship lifted back into the air. The moon’s surface grew smaller and smaller below as the jumper raced back towards Earth, the sparkling blue jewel that was their home.

 

***

 

Sam flinched against that scratchy feeling between her legs and ran her hand through her hair. Fine sand grains fell down to the ground.

The lock on the jumper’s hatch clicked, then the door slid down with a low hum. Jack wrapped his arms around her from behind. “I got sand everywhere.”

“Yeah, you were right.” She winced. “Next time I’ll think twice about doing that. But you gotta admit, the waves kinda made it exciting.”

He chuckled. “Hell, yeah.”

“I really need a shower, though.” She giggled when he licked her neck. “Jack…”

“Salty…” He grinned. “I love tasting ocean water on you.”

Right in front of them, somebody coughed. Sam froze and felt Jack tense against her. She stared into the darkness.

Arms folded, McKay eyed them, annoyance written all over his face.

“Rodney.” Jack cleared his throat. “What are you doing up? It’s five in the morning.”

“Funny.” McKay sounded grumpy. “I was waiting for you to return. I wanted to do more simulations in the jumper.”

Jack stared at him, a blank expression on his face. “It’s five in the morning.”

Sam stifled a giggle at his wry tone and looked at McKay. “We left you a note.  We took the jumper on a test ride, so you can get on with the research in the morning.”

“For almost four hours?” Rodney shook his head. “A test ride is a quick thirty minute ride.”

 “We didn’t think anybody’d need the jumper. People usually sleep at this hour.” Jack glanced at his watch. “Speaking of which, why aren’t you sleeping?”

“I…” Rodney shifted. “I have work to complete.”

Sam raised her eyebrows. He hadn’t slept at all yet? She took a step forward. “We took a trip to the moon and tested the jumper’s capabilities in empty space.”

Rodney’s eyes flickered with curiosity. “The moon? Really?”

“Yes. Which reminds me, there were some energy fluctuations initially, before we left Earth’s atmosphere. I made a note in the log. We might have to see if we have a problem with one of the crystals.”

“Ookay.” Jack took her hand and started pulling her with him. “You two can get on that tomorrow. After both of you have slept at least six hours.”

“But…” Rodney waved towards his science tent.

“Ah.” Jack lifted his hand. “That’s an order. McKay, if I see as much as your shadow in the science camp before noon, I’ll have doc Fraiser give you one of her sedatives.”

McKay grumbled something, but then started towards his tent. Jack smirked, then pulled Sam with him. “Let’s get a shower and sleep.”

Sleep. In Jack’s arms. Her stomach fluttered. “ _Yes, sir_.” She grinned.

He smirked. As they strolled down to the bathhouse, he became serious.

“I gotta go to Powhatan next week.”

Her heart plummeted. He’d have to leave again so soon. The thought shouldn’t disturb her so much. It was part of their job. They fought the Aschen, and he was commander of this camp. She’d known the deal before they’d started dating. It had always been like this, but still, on-world missions were particularly dangerous, and she hated the underlying fear that he might not return.

When had she turned into one of those oversensitive women?

She forced a smile. “Okay.”

He frowned, studying her. “You all right?”

“I’m fine. When do you leave?”

“Actually, I wanted to ask if you wanna come with. I’ll meet with your dad. I know you and Jacob didn’t exactly part on good terms and that’s none of my business. But the meeting would be much easier if we could do it under the guise of me being your husband.”

She swallowed. Dad. He’d left Antarctica still mad at her. “I’m not sure he wants to see me, but I’d like that.”

“He’ll be thrilled.” Jack smiled and drew her close. “I can take care of some business and you can visit your dad.”

“That sounds good. How long will we be gone?”

“Just for a day. We’ll leave here in the morning, and should be home by night.”

“Yeah, that’ll be fun.” She grinned and pulled him close.

Fifteen minutes later, when they lay snuggled in their sleeping bag, Sam stared into the darkness. Powhatan. She’d see her home again. Maybe Minny. An indistinct longing pulled at her. It’d been over a year since she’d left. The memories from back then now seemed like glimpses into another lifetime.

Would her father want to see her? Would he welcome her?

She turned and snuggled into Jack’s embrace. He pulled her close and placed a sleepy kiss against her forehead.

Well, it didn’t matter. Antarctica was her home now.


	37. The Ghost In The Mill

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> This version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).
> 
>  
> 
> Now you can also find an ebook version of this story on my website, including lots of bonus material as well as the first publication version of Stargate Aschen. (Click image to download.)  
> 
> 
>   
>  [](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-free-stargate-sg-1-ebook/)   
>    
> 

Sam inhaled the mild air. The scent of corn dust and grass filled her nostrils as she looked over the wide fields. The grain swayed gently in the wind.

“Home sweet home.” Jack smirked, shielding his eyes against the sunlight. A low buzz behind them indicated that the cloaked puddle jumper took off again. Sheppard would return later on to pick them up.

She cocked her head and smiled. “I really don’t miss it…after all that has happened. After all I know now.”

“Aw, come on Carter.” Jack looked around. “Wide open fields, wind gently rustling through the crops, birds chirping. What’s not to like?”

She pointed at the crystal buildings of Powhatan’s city center in the distance. “Aschen central right at your door.”

Hands buried in his pockets, he trudged along the grassy path leading through the fields.

She studied him. Blue jeans and a white t-shirt that contrasted his tan. For once, they looked like a normal human couple.

“Carter. You coming?” He turned, eyebrows raised.

She hurried to catch up, and when she reached him, he slid one arm around her waist.

“How far is it?” he asked.

“Not far. Just through these fields and over that hill, then we’ll see the house.” She reached her hand out and brushed the tips of the crops. They tingled her palm. How often she’d done this during harvest season when she’d still live with her dad. Just aimlessly walking through these fields with one of her study books, feeling the wind tousle her long hair.

_I wonder if my tree’s still there._ She turned her head and stared out onto the vast field. There it was, that lonely oak tree on its isle of grass in the middle of the wheat field with its perfect branches waiting for her to climb up.

How innocent she’d been. So naïve and hopeful for the future. Back when her days hadn’t been more complicated than asking herself which field of study she wanted to concern herself with.

Sometimes she missed those days. Life had been easier then. Less dangerous. Or maybe it was just those hopes and dreams from her youth she missed. Before she’d been disillusioned.

“Hey, you okay?” Jack gave her waist a little squeeze. 

She smiled. “Yeah. I just realize now how much my life has changed.”

His dark eyes met hers. “Any regrets?”

She scrunched her brows, thoughtful. “No. I wouldn’t do anything different. I guess I just miss how easy life was back then.”

“Before you learned you were gifted.”

“Yeah.”

He gave her a gentle smile, then drew her close. “I know.”

Yes, he did, didn’t he? He understood the disillusionment that had started when she’d learned she was gifted, because he’d gone through the same thing. She leaned her head against his shoulder.

The characteristic buzz of an Aschen harvester approached. Sam stopped and turned, watching as the huge ship flew across the field and passed over their heads. It wasn’t harvesting, which meant it probably transported a load of grain back to the Stargate in Liberty Park, to send it to the Aschen homeworld.

When she’d been young, the sound of the harvesters had always been soothing. Now it made her heart pound with anger. Their crops. Planted by humans, grown by humans. _They’re stealing our crops._

“Wow. It’s been forever since I’ve seen one of those so close.” Jack stared up, his hand shielding his eyes from the sun.

“Yeah. I’d almost forgotten how ever-present the Aschen and their technology are up here in the North.” Thank God, they never came by Antarctica. Down there it was almost as though the Aschen didn’t exist.

He must have heard the anger in her voice because he turned and smirked at her. “Easy, Carter. You’re not gonna hunt down the next best Aschen, are you?”

“What? No. Why?”

“You have that look.”

“What look?”

“The ‘I’m-gonna-beat-up-my-training-instructor’ look.” His expression turned wry.

Her anger evaporated and she burst out laughing. She’d probably always be known as the soldier who dared to beat up an instructor during boot camp training. Smiling, she grazed her hand against his and then enlaced their fingers.

They started walking again as the harvester grew smaller in the distance.

“You ever been to the Aschen homeworld?” Jack raised his brows at her.

“No.” She shook her head. “Dad was there, though. He attended a conference as one of only a few representatives of the human race when I was still a teen. Back then I was so envious. I wanted to go with him and see what it’s like.” She looked up at him. “Have you ever been there?”

He chuckled. “No. I’ve heard it’s quite different from our planet. They have almost no farmland. Every single corner of their planet is populated.”

“Yeah. Dad brought back a book for me that had some pictures. That’s why they convert so many planets into farmland. Did you know their homeworld wouldn’t even be able to sustain life anymore if they hadn’t set up weather and air control systems everywhere?”

“Really?”

“They have no forest or grass areas. The carbon output is through the roof and there are no plants to produce enough oxygen.”

“All the more strange they display so many environmental concerns on Earth.” He scratched his hand through his hair. “Bit hypocritical.”

“I think we’re lucky Earth is a farming planet. The alternative would be a residential colony. If they’d converted Earth into one of those, humanity would’ve already ceased to exist, and Earth would probably look a lot like their homeworld.”

He stared at her. “How do you know all that?”

“Old resistance reports. Daniel wrote a cultural profile about the Aschen. You should read it, it’s fascinating. He’s been working on it for two years.”

“I can barely contain my enthusiasm.”

Laughing, she nudged him. “Don’t worry. He’s probably gonna do a briefing on the info once he’s finished.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”

She laughed again. Then she looked at the horizon. “Did you tell my dad I’d come with today?”

“It was an option.” He nodded vaguely.

Sam looked at the path ahead again. Jack probably wouldn’t give her more information than that as it would involve contact-meeting procedures. He usually became this vague or curt when he couldn’t discuss matters with her. She got the message. Strange how fast they’d developed an intuitive way of communication. 

She squeezed his hand. “We should do this more often.”

“What, have secret contact meetings?” His eyes sparkled.

“Go out together. You know, get away from camp.”

“We can do that. We could go out to town if you want.”

She beamed at him. “Have steak?”

“Definitely. I could take you dancing. If you’re into that.”

“Well…” She swallowed. “Actually I’ve never done that.”

He stared at her. “What did you do on dates before?”

“I didn’t have that many. Except with Larek. And the Aschen aren’t really into dancing.”

“There’s a surprise.” He gave her a blank look. “Are you telling me you’ve never been out on a real date?”

Why did he have to make it sound like that? “Well. Except for our dates, I guess not.”

“Alright, I’ll take you out to O’Malley’s on dance night.”

“I can’t dance.” She scrunched her brows and then laughed when Jack pulled her into his arms.

“It’s really simple. You just place your arms around my neck…” He drew her close and buried his face in her neck, pulling her groin against his. Heat shot through her. “…and then we sway.”

“That’s not real dancing.” She gave a breathless chuckle when his hands trailed along her hips.

“Oh, but I bet you after fifteen minutes of doing my kind of dancing, you’ll wanna rent one of those private rooms.” He nuzzled her neck.

Sam wriggled free from him with a giggle. “Prove it.”

“I will if you’ll go out on a date with me.” He gave her a smug smile.

“All right.” Her stomach fluttered at the thought. An actual date. With Jack. Now why did that feel so much more exciting than any date with Larek ever had? She pulled him close. “Once the new scientists arrive, I’ll take more time off.”

“Yeah, Sheppard and I already discussed this new trend you guys have of skipping sleep.”

“We don’t—”

“Ah. Carter.” Jack shook his head. “Felger fell asleep during a briefing a few days ago. McKay’s been on caffeine pills for two weeks and made permanent camp in one of the science tents. And Daniel has stacked the new tent I assigned him and Vala so full with books there’s not even space for a sleeping bag anymore.” He sighed. “I’m all for motivation, but lack of downtime can turn into a real danger in the field. Things have gotten a bit out of hand lately.”

Yeah, okay, maybe he was right. McKay really didn’t sleep a lot anymore and annoyed everyone with his resulting grumpiness. Lately, Daniel always had his nose buried in a book. Felger had been caught up in his research of the artifacts brought through the gate. And with the material she and Jack had brought back from the alternate universe…

She stifled a smile when she remembered the general proceedings briefing where Felger had fallen asleep. His loud snoring had effectively interrupted McKay’s word flow. Rodney hadn’t been happy. Neither was Sheppard.

“And don’t even let me get started about you.” Jack turned his head to her.

She glanced at him. “I’m not on any kinds of pills.”

“No. But you also shorten sleep frequently.”

“Not because of work, though.” She gave him a cheeky smile.

 He cleared his throat. “I admit, it’s at least partly my influence.”

“And I’m not complaining.”

He chuckled. “No, but it doesn’t go well with the workload at the moment. As soon as the new scientists arrive, I’ll order all of you to take a coupla days off and recharge.”

“But—”

“Carter, you’re on my team. And I don’t wanna run into a dangerous situation off-world, covered by someone whose reaction time is lowered because she hasn’t had a decent sleep in a month.”

Damn, why did he have to have such valid arguments? “Yes, sir.”

As things were, she wouldn’t trust herself to react fast enough to shoot a Jaffa. SG-1’s next mission was scheduled a week from now. She’d have to make sure to get a couple of night’s sleep before that.

“When will the scientists arrive?”

“Sometime this and next week. There’s one to join you tech guys, and an archeologist to support Daniel. And the resistance’s medical scientist is gonna join us at Cell 4. He and Fraiser designed the anti-gifted protein markers, and now they’re working on researching that Ancient gene.”

Wow. So three new scientists were going to join them. Even with just one more hand to help them sort out the artifacts, things would progress a lot faster.

In the distance, her dad’s house lay calm on a large court between fields. Fences lined the parcel. It looked just like she remembered it.

Then she tensed when a thought popped in her mind. “Did you tell my dad about our new situation?”

“Kinda.” He grimaced.

She narrowed her eyes. “What does that mean?”

He scratched his hand through his hair. “He knows we’ve come to an agreement. I think he assumes it’s a bit more of a platonic nature, though.”

“Oh boy.” She closed her eyes. This was bound to get awkward. After all Jack and Dad were friends. “Please promise me not to, you know, discuss our relationship with him.”

“Carter.” Jack cringed. “Technically, Jacob’s my step-dad now. You really think I wanna discuss details with him?”

She smiled. “Well, last time you two met, there was this whole planning my life thing going on.”

He stopped and drew her close. “Yeah, that kinda went wrong. I promise it won’t happen again. I swear, the second Jacob says anything that sounds remotely like interfering, I’m outta there.”

Warmth spread through her as she studied his dark eyes. Thinking back, the situation had been messed up, and he’d gotten caught in the middle of it. He really wasn’t someone to control another person’s life. He’d never tried doing that with her since they started dating. Her gaze dropped to his lips and she leaned in.

Jack’s mouth tugged into a smirk. “You might wanna hold off on making out with me within sight of your dad’s living room window, though. Dead giveaway.”

“Oh, shut up.” She smacked his chest.

He caught her wrists and gave her a heated glance. “Wouldn’t that be ‘shut up, sir’?”

“In your dreams.”

He grinned, then pecked a kiss on the tip of her nose and released her.

Only ten meters separated them from the stairs leading up to the front door. Sam quickened her step, wanting to jump up the stairs, expecting to see Minny open it with that mixture of strictness and a smile, as she’d always done.

Unexpectedly, Jack’s hand closed around her wrist in a steel-like grip, forcing her to stop. She turned, brows raised, and saw him stare at a point next to the house. Two Aschen men in grey Justice Agency uniforms disappeared behind the house.

She held her breath. Aschen justice agents? Walking to the back of the house? What were they doing here?

“We have to leave. Now.” Jack’s hushed whisper next to her ear snapped her out of her bewilderment. She stared at him. Gone was the playful man she’d just bantered with a minute ago. Something had gone terribly wrong.

She turned and stumbled after him as he dragged her with him towards the nearest field. Voices drifted over from somewhere behind them, too distant to make out the words. He quickened, and broke into a run. She followed suit.

Ten meters, fifteen meters along the grass, then into a field. Suddenly, he stopped and ducked down. Sam stifled a yelp when she nearly stumbled over him. He wrapped one arm around her, steadying her against his chest. His breath came fast and hard in her ear.

“Shh.”

“Jack, what’s going on?” The crops shielded the house from her view. Which probably meant people near the house couldn’t see them either.

“Jacob’s been made. So will we, if we’re not careful.”

Sam went rigid. _Dad has been made?_ “What?” She didn’t even try to mask the panic in her voice. “Made, how? Where is he?”

“Most likely arrested.” He squeezed her hand gently.

“But… You don’t know that. Maybe the justice agents are here because of a break-in. Or—” Yeah, right. Cause the Aschen justice department would take care of that. They usually sent local order officials in those cases.

“There’s too many of ‘em. There’s two behind the house, and I saw three more combing the fields. I didn’t see their hovercraft, either. This whole thing is typical for one of their raids. I’ve seen it before.”

Sam lifted her head to peek over the tops of the wheat. He was right. Three agents gathered in front of the house now, while two more walked out the front door. Her heart stopped when they pointed in their direction. “I think they saw us. Two of them were in the house.”

Jack muttered a curse and pulled her back down. “That’s what I was afraid of. Come on. We gotta get away from here.”

He turned sideways, crouching through the field. Thank God, it was a windy day. The wind would shield their movements. It hadn’t rained in a while, so the hard ground should conceal their footsteps. The stems of wheat brushed harshly against her skin as she followed Jack.

Finally, he stopped. She halted, waiting for his lead. He lifted his head, looked in the direction of the house, and ducked back down with a curse.

“They’re combing this field now.”

“Jack.” She grabbed his arm. “There’s an old mill about two miles through the fields behind the house.”

“Sounds like a plan for now. We gotta cross the road somehow.”

“There’s a little canal at the end of this field. We could pass through under the bridge.”

“Perfect.” He gave her shoulder a little squeeze. “Come on.”

They crouched again. Sam flinched. Her legs burned from the unfamiliar movement. She started counting her steps, counting the meters, anything to keep her mind occupied. At last they reached the little stream. Clear water gurgled peacefully along the pebbly ground.

“Careful about footprints. Let’s get down there.” Jack pointed towards a few rocks leading down to the stream. Right. Their footprints wouldn’t be visible on the stone, but the same couldn’t be said for the muddy ground near the water.

The stream was only ankle-deep. Quietly, they moved through the water, then under a low bridge. No fast movements, otherwise the splashes of the water would give them away. They waded along the stream, past the bridge, and then another twenty meters until Jack finally signaled towards a little canal.

Designed to provide a drain for rainwater, it led right up into the cornfield. Perfect. They followed the canal, then took a right turn into the field. Hurrying through the huge corn plants proved more laborious than crouching through the crops had been. The plants were stronger, and it took a considerable amount of effort to bend them aside.

After a good fifteen minutes, Sam stopped. “You think we lost them?”

“No.” Jack stopped and wiped his palm across his forehead. “My guess is this entire region’s swarming with agents.”

“Oh God.” Sam paled. “Why are there so many agents around?”

His face darkened. “General procedure. They were waiting for us. They probably arrested Jacob and then waited.”

Sam’s eyes widened. “How would they know we wanted to visit?”

“My gut tells me we were set up. That means we’re probably dealing with search parties of thirty or more people combing the area.”

“Set up?” Her heart pounded loud in her ears. _Set up._ That meant somebody had ratted them out. Somebody at camp? The idea was so unthinkable it left her dizzy. If there was a spy among them, how could she trust anyone?

“Sam.” He touched her cheek. “Don’t worry about the details now. We’ll handle it. It’s not the first time. I just wish I hadn’t dragged you into this.”

“But what if somebody at camp—”

“Doubt it.” He drew her close. “If it was someone at our camp, the Aschen would know about our Stargate program and how much intel the resistance has actually gathered. My guess is, it was someone in the Powhatan cell. Someone working close with Jacob.”

She swallowed hard.

He squeezed her shoulder. “Let’s not overthink. Now we gotta focus on staying off the radar until we can contact Sheppard.”

She closed her eyes. “Are they gonna kill dad?” Oh god, did she want to hear the answer to that? Her stomach tightened.

“No.”

She opened her eyes, seeking his gaze.

“He’s more valuable to them alive at the moment. They want information.”

That sounded logical. Unless… He wouldn’t lie to her, would he? Then another thought popped into her mind. If their housekeeper had been in the house when the raid started… “What about Minny?”

“If they got her, she’ll be interrogated. Nothing more. I doubt your father told her anything, so they’ll most likely let her go once they realize she doesn’t know anything.” He took her hand in his. “Come on. We gotta keep moving.”

She followed him. Working for Cell 4, she’d been sheltered from dangers that other resistance cells dealt with on a daily basis. Like being made. Or ending up arrested by the Aschen. She remembered her basic bootcamp training of how to deal with interrogations, but if they were caught…

The Aschen considered them terrorists. They wouldn’t be lenient in their questioning. She hadn’t been trained to withstand all their interrogation methods, and if she told them about the Stargate… Blood rushed in her ears. She posed a security risk if justice agents captured them.

“Sir.” He turned and his gaze met hers. “You have to make sure I can’t tell them anything if they capture us.” She swallowed hard, hoping he understood the implications of her words. “I’ve never been trained to withstand enhanced interrogation, and if I tell them about the Stargate—”

Jack raised his eyebrows. “That’s a bit drastic, don’t ya think?”

“But I don’t know how I’ll react under torture, and if I tell them anything about our operations—”

“Carter.” Jack grabbed her shoulders. “I said, don’t overthink. Let’s take this step by step.” His features softened. “We’ll get outta this.”

He pulled her against him, took her lips in a kiss that lasted only a short moment. Then he grabbed her hand and turned. “Come on.”

She wasn’t sure how much time passed as they fought their way through the crops. Might have been minutes, or hours. Finally, the narrow path between the plants got wider and walking became easier.

Hopefully, they’d reach the old mill soon. It had been abandoned for decades and was nothing more than a ruin now. Thanks to many legends surrounding it, nobody ever went there anymore. It’d offer many excellent hiding spots.

Jack came to a dead stop in front of her, and Sam’s breath hitched when she almost ran into him. She grabbed his shoulders and steadied herself.

Right in front of them, not five meters away on the narrow grassy path that separated the cornfield from another one right next to it, an Aschen justice agent paced. He had his back to them, speaking into a radio in his palm.

Jack placed his index finger to his lips, signaling for her to get down.

The Aschen agent seemed oblivious to their presence. “No sign of them in this area, sir. They might have gone the other way.”

The radio crackled with static. Jack used the sound as cover up and slid past some larger crop flowers out of the field.

A croaky voice answered over the radio. “Understood. Keep your eyes open.”

“Yes, Commander.”

Jack sneaked up on the man without making a sound.  Sam held her breath. Was he gonna…

Bones cracked as he grabbed the man from behind and turned his head in a swift move.

She closed her eyes. Nausea turned her stomach. How could he kill so easily? Jack let the lifeless body sink to the ground.

He looked around, then nodded to her. Legs shaking, Sam slid out between the stems of corn plants and approached the dead man on the ground. Jack knelt down next to him and searched his pockets. He studied the man’s weapon, then held it up towards her. “You ever seen one of these?”

Swallowing hard, she forced herself to focus. Silver steel, almost formed like a zat’nik’tel. “No, they must be new. Maybe derived from a Goa’uld design.”

Her gaze dropped to the man on the ground. His eyes stared wide and lifeless up into the blue sky. Why was she feeling sympathy? He was an Aschen. More than that, a justice agent. He wouldn’t have hesitated to arrest them. She shouldn’t feel sympathy.

Jack picked up the guard’s radio, then threw it off into the field. Right. Those radios had built-in motion sensors. Better not to be too close to one for a longer period of time.

A movement in the field caught her eye. She squinted. The tip of a weapon blinked in the sunlight. Aiming at Jack. From behind. There was no way he was gonna see that. Oh God.

Heart hammering, she pounced forward.

 

***

 

“Watch out!”

Jack froze, startled by Carter’s outcry. He turned, and her body slammed into his, pushing him to the ground. The air left his lungs. Then he felt her jerk against him, and she gave a pained moan.

He turned them so she was lying in the grass and jumped up. Before he could rationalize the situation, he pounced on the man hiding in the shadows of the corn crops. One blow and the man dropped down to the ground, undoubtedly surprised by the quick attack.

He pushed his knee against the struggling man’s spine, then grabbed his head with both hands.

Even after all these years, he still loathed the sound a breaking spine made, hated the feeling when a body slumped against him, became heavier. He’d been trained to kill with his bare hands, and yet it seemed almost too easy.

For now, it was the only way. They couldn’t leave behind witnesses. He spun and raced back to Carter lying motionless on the ground. He lifted her heavy, lifeless upper body. Her eyes darted to him. Thank God, she was alive.

“Sam.” He slapped her cheek gently. “Look at me. Can you hear me?”

“Yeah.” She closed her eyes, grimacing. “A discharge hit my arm. I can’t feel the rest of my body.”

“Seems to be some kind of paralyzing effect.” He took the weapon he’d taken from the Aschen justice agent and fastened it at the hem of his pants. Then he lifted her up in his arms.

She yelped. “No. That hurts. Give me a moment—”

“Sorry, we don’t have a moment. Hang in there.” He pressed her against him and hurried off into the next cornfield. After he’d just killed two Aschen justice agents, he really didn’t wanna stick around the bodies.

Sam gritted her teeth on a whimper. God, he wished he could give her a moment to rest. At last, she started moving in his arms, and her grip on his shoulder tightened. Apparently, the paralysis wore off.

He stopped and set her down on the ground. She shook against him. “Okay?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I think so.”

That didn’t sound convincing at all. Jack placed a kiss against her forehead. “That discharge would’ve hit me.”

“Yeah.” She tried to smile through her pain.

“You shouldn’t have thrown yourself in the way. Though I appreciate the thought.” He gave her a smirk, trying to lighten the mood.

She glanced up at him, smile broadening. “Don’t flatter yourself. I tried to push you out of the way. I didn’t actually intend to get shot.” Yep, definitely the Carter he knew.

He chuckled. “Well, seems like you miscalculated your momentum there.”

“I didn’t exactly have much time to do the math.” She leaned against him and inhaled deeply. “Okay, it’s getting better. Those weapons seem to function similarly to zat-guns. At least they hurt about the same. The effects are a bit different.”

“You good to walk?”

She nodded. One arm around her, he kept steadying her as they continued their way through the field, a lot slower now. Thank God she was doing better. For a moment he’d thought…

His stomach clenched and his grip on her tightened. Not the right moment to dwell on what-ifs.

They’d almost reached the end of the field when Sam stopped. Her body started to shake against him. “I’m not feeling so good, sir.”

Yeah, understatement of the year. When her legs gave way under her and color drained from her face, he caught her at the last moment, preventing her from hitting the ground. He pressed her against him. Her body started convulsing violently, her fingers clutching his arm.

“Crap.” Jack watched her helplessly. Wetness streaked her cheeks and she screamed through gritted teeth. His stomach clenched. She needed a hospital. That damn gun had caused more harm than they thought. There was no way he’d get her out and to a doctor anytime soon, though.

Her convulsions grew weaker, and he lowered her to the ground where she lay trembling for a few moments. Jack brushed her hair away from her sweaty forehead. Her breathing returned to normal.

As soon as her tremors subsided, she stirred and tried to sit up.

“Whoa… Easy there.” Screw the Aschen on their tails. As pale as she was getting up was a bad idea.

“I’m fine. It’s better now.”

The hell she was. He heard her stifle a sob, her fingers clutching his shirt as he helped her up. She did have a point. The faster they got out of here, the sooner he’d get her to a doctor.

Not ten minutes later, she went into another attack, worse than before. She recovered quickly, but the attacks kept coming, each one leaving her weaker.

By the time they finally reached the old mill, every seizure left her close to unconsciousness. Jack dragged her inside the old building just as another attack hit her. He covered her mouth to muffle her cries, his other arm holding her steady against his waist. Blood rushed in his ears. She needed to go to a hospital, but there wasn’t one close by where she’d be safe. God, he was gonna lose her, wasn’t he?

Maybe they should surrender to the Aschen in the hopes that they’d help her—no, out of the question. He couldn’t endanger their operations. Not even if it meant sacrificing her. He pressed his lips to her temple and closed his eyes.

She calmed, and her body slumped against him. He pulled her to an old dusty staircase near the wall and let her sink down onto it.

Panic filled her blue eyes. “What did they do to me?”

“I don’t know.” He brushed his thumb over the wet trail on her cheek. “Hang in there, okay? We’ll get you back to Janet. She’s gonna fix you.”

“Nice try.” She grimaced and sat up. “Even with the jumper, it’ll take at least two hours to get back to Antarctica. My seizures started out every ten minutes. Now they are down to every six minutes, and they’re getting worse. So following the math—”

“Carter.” He gave her his best scowl. Yes, he’d done the math himself. But dwelling on it wouldn’t get them anywhere. She needed to stay positive, especially when he didn’t have a plan on how to get them out of this mess yet.

“Sorry, sir.”

Her miserable tone made him regret his snippiness immediately. He pressed a gentle kiss against her forehead.

Distant voices drifted from outside. Both of them froze.

“Stay here.” Jack sneaked back to the door. Four Aschen justice agents approached the mill through the wheat field. Damn, just what they needed.

He closed the heavy wooden door, then hurried to the stairs and pulled Sam up. Her body still shook. “Come on. We need to get upstairs.”

They crawled up the stairs to avoid making any sound. Weight distribution. He just hoped the old planks wouldn’t give way under them.

When they had reached the upper floor, he looked around.

Not much room to hide. The old mill wheel with its rusty hinges in the middle of the room took up most of the space. A few old barrels stood here and there. If the Aschen agents actually decided to search the mill…

They’d effectively maneuvered themselves into a trap.

“Swell.” With a soft groan, he scraped his hand through his hair.

Sam looked at him, her back against the wooden wall. “What now?”

“We’re just gonna have to hope that they won’t look for us here.” Yeah, right. What were the chances of that? He crept along the side of the room and studied the wheel mechanics. They looked solid, but there was no hiding space anywhere within the mechanism. “Carter, is there some other room connected to this building? Something like a barn or a shack behind the mill?”

“No.” She shook her head.

“Basement?”

“Not that I know of.” She looked miserable. “I’m sorry. This was a bad idea.”

“Don’t sweat it. It was worth a try.” He placed his arm around her to pull her close against him. Her body shook, undoubtedly from exhaustion. “Maybe you should—”

Below, the heavy wooden door creaked and the deep voices of the Aschen justice agents drifted upstairs. Jack placed his finger to his lips.

A soft creak in the corner made them both spin. Daylight leaked through a few cracks in the wall. Two boxes stood near the corner. Other than that, nothing.

“Did you hear that?” he whispered.

“Yes.” She nodded.

Okay, good, so he hadn’t imagined it. “What the hell was that?”

“Maybe it was the ghost.” She turned her head, her eyes sparkling. Well, at least she hadn’t lost her sense of humor.

“Right.”

“There’s been this story around here about a ghost haunting this mill. It’s an old folktale, nothing more.”

Some scuffling drifted up from downstairs.

“You should sit down.” Jack pulled her closer into the darkened corner. If she went into another attack while the Aschen were still down there…

“I’m fine.” She trembled against him.

“The hell you are.”

A loud creak from downstairs, then the voices of the Aschen agents grew louder.

“I don’t think they would hide in such an obvious place.”

“Governor Molum wants us to search everywhere, so I won’t ask questions.”

“Shhh.” Jack placed his hand over Sam’s mouth as she started into a violent convulsion against him. _Shit. Shit. Shit._

He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against her temple. If only he could get her to a doctor. She whimpered into his palm, her nails digging into his arm. He leaned back against the wall and grabbed her tighter. Waiting… Waiting an eternity. At last, she calmed in his grip and her body slumped against him, chest heaving. He dropped his hand from her mouth.

“I can’t take this anymore.” She panted.

“Shh. Easy. Just hang in there.”

More voices sounded from, and they froze. “There’s nobody here. Warren, you check upstairs.” Somebody moved around, then footsteps creaked.

“These stairs don’t look very sturdy.”

“Just be careful.”

Jack didn’t dare breathe. Sam pressed herself into his body. Only a few more moments and the Aschen agent would inevitably find them.

 

***

 

Sam held her breath. Even in the dark corner, the Aschen agent couldn’t overlook them.

Another creak meant another step up the stairs. How many stairs had it been? Fifteen? Twenty? It didn’t really matter. The outcome would be the same.

Behind her, Jack didn’t move or breathe. If only the tingling in her arms and legs stopped. She tried to slow her breathing, but the prospect of being arrested as a terrorist didn’t help to accomplish that.

Once the Aschen arrested them, they’d probably be taken to a secret facility somewhere. Even though publicly the Aschen prided themselves on their justice system, it was hardly justice they served. Arrests happened too fast for a thorough investigation to have taken place. Suspects usually disappeared and were never heard from again.

If they were arrested, chances were slim anybody would ever know where they’d been taken. She closed her eyes.

Only seconds…

A hand grabbed hers. Smaller, cold. Sam jerked her head down. The pale, dirty face of a young woman stared up at her.

_The ghost of the mill!_ She stifled an outcry at the last second. Ridiculous. Ghosts didn’t exist. Was she hallucinating? Maybe the seizures had caused brain damage.

The woman’s eyes widened and she pulled at Sam’s hand insistently. No, she wasn’t a ghost, nor a hallucination. She’d crawled out of a small hatch set into the wall, hidden in the shadows of the barrels. Fingers at her lips, the young woman waved for them to follow her.

Sam grabbed Jack’s arm and then lowered herself to her knees to crouch into the hatch behind the woman. Another room lay hidden behind the wall. Wooden beams steadied the roof, making it impossible to stand upright. Probably a tunnel to access the sails of the mill for maintenance. The stony ground was covered in dust and dirt.

Behind her, Jack crawled inside without a sound. Then the young woman closed the hatch quietly.

Neither of them moved. The heavy steps of the justice agent thumped across the other room. She held her breath. It was unlikely he’d hear them breathe through the wall, but still… Better safe than sorry. 

“There’s nobody up here.” The agent’s steps grew quieter, then the stairs creaked as he stomped back down to main floor.

Oh, thank God. Sam leaned against the wall. The trembling in her hands increased.

_No, no, no. Not now._ She closed her eyes. The shaking spread to her arms and legs. She’d go into another seizure. _Just a few more minutes until the agents are gone._

A warm hand touched her shoulder. Her eyes snapped open and she stared into the wide blue eyes of the young woman.

She mouthed the word, “Okay?”

She shook her head, holding up her trembling hand. Jack crouched closer and wrapped his arms around her, undoubtedly to muffle her sounds if necessary. Damn, she endangered them all.

The young woman stared at him, eyebrows raised. He fumbled at the hem of his pants and pulled the Aschen gun out. The other woman’s face lit up and she turned quietly to rummage through a backpack in a darker corner.

Sam squinted in the darkness. An old mattress, a blanket, a hairbrush, water bottles, packages with dried meat. _Oh my God, she’s living here._

The young woman pulled out a little plastic bag containing white powder. She grabbed one of the water bottles and poured a bit of powder into the water. Then she stirred it without a sound.

When she’d crouched back to Sam, she held the bottle to her lips. “Drink.” A whisper. “This will help.”

She didn’t think twice. What choice did she have anyway? Anything to fight off the seizure that threatened to overtake her with a vengeance. She took a sip. Bitter and salty. Her stomach turned.

The young woman pressed the bottle back to her lips and nodded insistently. Fighting her gag reflex, Sam emptied the contents, then dropped back against Jack’s warm chest. He rubbed her arms soothingly. Once the nausea subsided, she closed her eyes. Her muscles relaxed, and her trembling grew weaker.

What had the woman given her? Exhaustion crept into her bones, made it difficult to keep her eyes open. She allowed her head to loll back against Jack’s chest, and felt him nuzzle her temple. Then her awareness drifted away.

When she opened her eyes again, the pattern of light leaking in from outside had changed. Had she fallen asleep?

She shifted, and Jack’s arms around her loosened. The younger women crouched closer and handed her another water bottle. Sam sniffed it. More of that disgusting substance. She lifted the bottle to her lips and drank. Whatever it was, it seemed to help. Her muscles had relaxed, her heart wasn’t pounding too fast anymore and the underlying tremors in her muscles had stopped. Almost back to normal.

No more Aschen voices. Silence surrounded them, with only the wind howling through the cracks between the planks.

“What is that?” Jack kept his voice low. So the Aschen had left the mill, otherwise he wouldn’t be talking.

The young woman smiled. “A mixture of different minerals evaporated or neutralized when you were hit by the Aschen stun gun. The sudden loss of the minerals drives your body into shock. You could have died if you’d gone without help any longer.”

“Thank you.” Sam drank the rest of the contents.

“How do you know so much about that?” He shifted and released Sam from his arms. She sat up.

The young woman ran a hand through her dirty blonde hair. “I was the apprentice of the doctor in my village. We had a few people coming in with the same symptoms. He realized they were caused by the new Aschen guns. Finding a cure was really easy after the first bloodwork came back.” She closed the bag with the white powder and put it away.

Jack stared at her. “Who are you? And what’re you doing here?”

“Sorry. That was rude of me. I’m Jennifer Keller.” She held out her hand.

“Jack.” He took her hand, shook it, and then nodded at Sam. “That’s Sam.”

“Your wife?”

“Something like that.”

His curt answer made Jennifer raise her brows. “You don’t have to worry about me. I have my own problems. I really don’t care why the Aschen are after you, if you’re involved in stealing, or with the resistance.”

Resistance? Sam tensed and looked at Jack. His face remained blank, but suspicion flared in his eyes.

“Oh? What makes you say that?”

“Experience.” Sighing, she sat down. “Over the years I’ve treated my share of people coming from, let’s say, shady backgrounds. We never asked any questions about how they got injured or who they were. But over time you develop a feeling for different types.”

Jack’s face dropped. “You worked for an underground doctor?”

“I guess you could call him that. He was a real doctor, though.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt that.” His expression gentled. “Were it not for those doctors, I myself would be dead now.”

“Jack?” Sam raised her brows. He turned to her.

“Underground doctors treat any kind of patient without asking questions. They don’t care for the Aschen law requiring them to see identification and do background checks before treatment. Many of our _family_ would be dead already if those doctors didn’t exist.”

“Ah.” She nodded. How come she hadn’t even been aware those doctors existed? Well, in Cell 4 they had Janet, so there was no need to consult another doctor.

Jennifer stacked the empty bottle into her bag. “You guys are too well-mannered to be smugglers or slave traders.” Her eyes twinkled when she looked at them. “And I don’t see any stolen goods on you. So my bet’s resistance, but don’t answer me.” She grimaced. “I don’t want you to have to kill me. Or something.”

Jack chuckled, and Sam couldn’t suppress a grin. Jennifer’s honesty was refreshing. Definitely a person who was used to dealing with criminals.

“Who’re you hiding from?” She took the bottle of clear water Jennifer handed her.

“Same as you. Aschen agents.”

Jack cleared his throat. “Thief?” He waved around indicating the food and blankets. Sam nudged him with a giggle. He raised his eyebrows. “What? With all the medication in her bag?”

Jennifer smiled and tied her long hair together at her nape. “No. I’m gifted. I ran away from the breeding facility in Powhatan about three weeks ago. I’ve been hiding here ever since. I stole the medication from the breeding facility. I figured maybe I could sell it on the black market and get some money. But the region is swarming with Justice Agents, and I’m on their wanted list, so it’s probably better to hide until things calm down.”

“You’re gifted?” Sam leaned forward.

Jennifer nodded. “I turned twenty-five six weeks ago. They came to get me soon after my tests came back positive. I tried to comply with the law, but the man they set me up with was almost fifty years older than me. According to them, we were a perfect genetic match.”

“Fifty years difference?” Sam shook her head. “Usually they take age into consideration as a factor for a match.”

“Yeah, but unfortunately none of the other available gifted people my age were suitable matches.” She visibly shuddered. “I felt like my entire life passed before my eyes when he entered the room and told me with a slimy smile that he was looking forward to having me as a wife. I had to run away.”

“From a breeding facility? Quite an accomplishment.” Jack took the water bottle Sam passed him and gulped some of the liquid down.

“It wasn’t that hard.” Jennifer smiled sadly. “The real hard part was to stay hidden afterwards. I have nowhere to go. I can’t go back to where people know me without raising suspicion or being found out, so…” She shrugged.

“What are your plans?” Sam studied her. So many differences in character, attitude, motive. And yet, the young woman reminded her of how she’d run away from home. The devastation that came with living on the streets. Just that she herself had had a mission that urged her to move forward.

“I’m not sure yet. I’ll take it day by day. First, I guess, I’ll try to leave the Powhatan area.”

Sam locked her gaze with Jack’s. Was he thinking the same thing as her? They could use another doctor to support Janet, especially with all the research she had to do. Having somebody to take care of the everyday injuries would be invaluable.

It wasn’t her place to make personnel suggestions, though, nor was she qualified to determine whether Jennifer might turn into a potential security risk. That was his specialty.

“Just how extensive is your medical knowledge?” He turned and scrutinized the young blonde. 

“Well, I am not a doctor or anything. Women aren’t allowed to study, so...” She shrugged again.

He smirked. “I kinda learned not to put too much value on missing university degrees.” He squeezed Sam’s arms and she smiled.

Jennifer looked at him as if contemplating whether to answer his question. “I assisted Doctor Matsushita for eleven years, since I was fourteen. I can handle most medical emergencies and assisted in a number of surgeries.” 

“We could use another doctor. You’d have the chance to study under one of the best human doctors on Earth. If you’re interested.” Jack kept his eyes on her.

“Um.” Jennifer fidgeted. “I don’t know. I’m not sure. I mean, I don’t even know you.”

“Right.”

Could they really blame her for being suspicious? Sam remembered the weeks she had spent searching for the resistance. With everything she’d gone through then, she herself had developed a general paranoia towards other people. Especially men.

After all, Jennifer knew nothing about them. Jack, on the other hand, couldn’t give her more information. There was still the chance she was an Aschen spy cleverly placed to bait them.

He shifted to the hatch. “I’ll check the vicinity to see if they’re gone. You two stay put.”

“Jack.” She grabbed his arm. He turned and his gaze met hers. “Be careful.”

“You betcha.” He squeezed her hand. “I’ll be right back.

As he crouched out of their hiding place, Sam ran her fingers through her hair. He had to go without backup. Her stomach tightened. Yes, he had the Aschen gun, but still.

She shifted and crouched to the hatch. Her legs trembled slightly, but strength returned to her muscles. Carefully she peaked out, listening into the silence.

No sound, except for the ever-present howling of the wind through the brittle walls. At last, after an eternity, Jack returned.

“We’re clear for the moment.” He still spoke in a lowered voice. “They’re probably still searching the perimeter, so we gotta be careful. Our best bet is to move out as soon as we can so we can contact…our _friend_.” He locked his gaze with Sam’s. “Can you walk?”

She nodded. If they managed to contact Sheppard, they’d be safe. The puddle jumper was cloaked, and once they were inside, they could return to Antarctica. She crawled out the hatch, then brushed the dust off her pants and leaned down to look at Jennifer. “Are you coming with?”

Next to her, Jack leaned down and peaked into the room. “We could at least get you out of the Powhatan area.”

“I don’t want to hold you back.” Jennifer took her bag hesitantly.

“Pshaw.” Jack waved her statement off. “You’re not holding us back. Besides, you kinda saved our lives there, so we owe you. Come on already.”

Jennifer scanned him as if still in doubt. “I guess it’s better than staying here in hiding.” She began stuffing some of the items lying scattered across the room into her bag.

Jack straightened and looked at Sam. “You alright?”

“Yes.” She smiled and stretched her neck. “I feel a bit funny, but it’s getting better.”

“Come here.” He grabbed her wrist and drew her into his embrace. So warm. She nuzzled his neck and pressed him close against her. His warm mouth dropped a kiss on her neck. “You gave me quite a scare there.”

“I know.” She lifted her head. “I’m just glad it was me who got shot and not you.” He raised his eyebrows. Smiling, she trailed her thumb across his cheek. “Well, for starters, I wouldn’t have been able to carry you away.”

“There’s that.” He pressed a kiss on her forehead. “How about in the future we just go for neither of us getting shot, though?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

He pulled her close again and tangled his hand in her hair. “Let’s get you back to Janet.”

Behind them, Jennifer crawled out of the hatch with her bag over her shoulder. “I’m ready.” She gave them an insecure smile as though she still didn’t fully trust them. 

“Alright.” Jack nodded. “Let’s go. You two stay behind me. Jennifer, you do what Sam does.”

They crept down the stairs. Once they reached the heavy door, Jack opened it and peeked outside, then waved at them to follow him. The air outside was fresh. After hours in the dusty room, it almost smelled better than before.

Sam looked up to the sky. Judging by the sun’s position, it was late afternoon already. How long had she been asleep up there? The wind had calmed down, but it was fresher than it had been a few hours before.

Jack leaned in and pointed at a hill in the distance. “We’ll head that way. Let’s hope our signal reaches Sheppard from there.”

“Yes, sir.” She nodded, then turned to Jennifer to relay the message to her. Quietly, they ran through the wheat field, ducked and always ready to take cover.

No sign of any Aschen agents in the fields around them, but that might not say much. In their position they were sitting ducks, and if the agents waited somewhere…

They reached the end of the field and continued on the grassy path leading uphill. The wind grew stronger and blew the short strands of Sam’s hair into her face.

“Where are we going?”

“To the top of the hill.” Sam looked at Jennifer, panting. “Once we manage to contact our friend, we’ll be safe.”

Jack stopped when they reached the highest point and crouched down. Sam turned and scanned the vast fields around them. Nobody in sight anywhere.

A few meters away from her, he pulled the radio from his belt. Hopefully he’d manage to contact Sheppard and the jumper. She smiled at Jennifer, who warmed her hands with her breath.

Sam turned her head back to Jack and saw his lips move, while his eyes scanned their surroundings. Hopefully that was a good sign. At last, he clipped the radio back to his belt, turned and hurried towards them. His reassuring smile made her heart beat faster. Yes, he’d managed to contact Sheppard. Thank God, they were safe.

Suddenly the hair on the back of her neck tingled and her stomach tightened. Every nerve in her body buzzed. Something was off. One look at Jack told her he sensed it too. He slowed, came to a halt, and scanned the wheat field.

A movement in the field. Then another one a few meters away.

Suddenly Aschen security agents swarmed around them, as if out of nowhere. Dozens of stun guns pointed at them.

“Hands up. Don’t move.”

Jennifer shrieked. Sam spun and looked into the faces of six more agents. Trapped. 

An older man trudged towards them, the gun in his hand pointing at Jack. Grey uniform with three stripes on his shoulder. _Oh, God._ A high commander. Ice poured into her veins.

“You’re under arrest for terrorist acts against the Aschen government.”


	38. Last Goodbye

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> This version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).
> 
>  
> 
> Now you can also find an ebook version of this story on my website, including lots of bonus material as well as the first publication version of Stargate Aschen. (Click image to download.)  
> 
> 
>   
>  [](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-free-stargate-sg-1-ebook/)   
>    
> 

 

Sam’s heart pounded loud and fast. Only three high commanders were stationed on Earth. They dealt with the most severe crimes.

She spun and sought Jack’s gaze. He looked calm, controlled, reserved. How the hell could he stay so relaxed when faced with Aschen Justice?

“Hands up.” One of the agents pushed her from behind. Flinching, Sam lifted her hands. God, they’d probably observed them from the moment they’d left the mill. How could she have been so stupid to think the old mill would serve as a great hiding spot?

Jack lifted his arms, calm. Only his tight jaw revealed a hint of anger. No, no, no. He couldn’t just surrender. She stared at him. His dark eyes locked with hers.

She’d worked too long with him not to understand the signal. _Do as I do._ Hesitantly, she stepped closer, her hands folded behind her head in surrender. She had to trust him. Just as she always did on missions.

“What are you doing here?” The high commander stepped up in front of Sam. When she didn’t lift her head, he grabbed her chin and forced her to look him in the eyes. Cold. Icy Blue. No emotion in them. Typically Aschen.

“We’re taking a walk,” Jack deadpanned. Sam turned her head and studied him. Sarcasm? Really? Even in the face of Aschen Justice agents?

The high commander turned and studied him. He had to lift his head slightly to meet Jack’s gaze. “Who are you?”

“Farm workers.” Jack’s posture feigned submission, but his vague answer made clear he wasn’t willing to give out more information than absolutely necessary.

His intention dawned on her. He didn’t surrender, he tried to survive. God, if only she could learn to control her emotions that well someday. 

“Your names.” The commander eyed him darkly. “I want your names.”

With a yelp, Jennifer spun, pushed one agent aside and raced along the path. A futile attempt at escape. Within seconds, the agents had caught up with her.

Sam looked at Jack, but he gave a slight shake of his head. She got the message. _Don’t you dare try that._ Her stomach tightened. They were in real trouble.

Jennifer sobbed as two agents dragged her back and pushed her roughly against Sam.

The high commander glared at her, then at Sam, then at Jack. “One more wrong move from any of you, and I will have you all executed on the spot.” He stared at them, grimly assessing one after the other. “I’ll only repeat myself once. I want your names now.”

Jack remained quiet. Wasn’t he going to answer the man? Sam sneaked a glance at him. He stood straight, his face blank. One agent approached him and searched him.

She felt blood drain from her face. The Aschen gun… Surely he was going to—

“Commander.” The agent held up the weapon and handed it over to the high commander. The man grimly scanned it, then Jack.

Her heart pounded. _They know._

“Where did you get that?”

“Found it.” Jack dropped his gaze to meet his eyes. “This afternoon, back there in the field. Wanted to hand it over to one of the justice stations as soon as we’re back in Powhatan.”

“Did you now?” The older Aschen circled Jack. “I think you stole it after you killed two of my agents.”

Jack held his gaze calmly. Not a blink, nor the slightest change in his facial expression. “We don’t know anything about dead agents.”

Damn, he was a good liar. Eyes blazing, the high commander turned. It was the first time Sam had ever seen an Aschen lose his patience. Apparently, they weren’t used to dealing with humans who displayed the same calm rationality they used.

He nodded at the agent behind her. “Search them.”

Sam gritted her teeth when the agent searched her for hidden weapons. If only she could smack him. Just once. One look into Jack’s eyes made her jaw clench, and she remained quiet and calm while the Aschen’s hands patted down her sides and legs.

At last, he released her and moved over to Jennifer. He ripped the bag from her shoulder and opened it.

“Where did you get all these medications?”

“I… I… I…” Jennifer looked about ready to break into tears. “I didn’t… I wasn’t… they’re…”

Sam rolled her eyes. The woman was so nervous she’d probably rat them out if the agent touched her again.

“Dr. Ilias gave them to her.” She ignored Jack’s warning glance, and instead lifted her gaze to the high commander. “He wanted her to deliver them to Dr. Watson down in the other district. He’s short on medicine again.”

The commander took the bag from his agent and looked inside, then back up at Jennifer. “You’re Ilias’ nurse?”

“She is.” Sam fixed her eyes on Jennifer’s.

The young woman nodded hesitantly. “I—I am.”

“Now we’re getting somewhere. She’s Ilias’s nurse. Who are you?” The high commander eyed Sam darkly. She lifted her chin, jaw clenched. 

“She’s my sister.” Jennifer fidgeted. Sam snapped her head around. Sister? “And that’s her husband. They’re farm workers. They’re taking me to Dr. Watson’s because…well, it’s quite a long way. Our hovercraft is undergoing repairs at the moment. I always get lost in these fields.”

Talk about lying. Sam glanced at Jack. Eyes blazing, he looked anything but pleased. Damn, was he mad? She swallowed hard.

The commander threw the bag at Jennifer. “All right. Come with us. We’ll take samples of your blood to cross it with our database. Agent Birol, please see if you can contact either Dr. Ilias or Dr. Watson. If your stories check out, you’re free to go.”

Crap. They’d contact the doctors and find out they’d lied. Sam flinched. They all remained quiet as they were led along the grassy path towards a group of trees. In the shadows of the trees, she recognized three hovercrafts. An agent opened the door to the back compartment of one of them.

“Inside.” The commander shoved Jennifer up the ladder. Sam followed her quickly before he could shove her. Inside she looked around. A windowless, metal box. A prison transporter.

She sat down on the bench set into the wall. Jack took seat opposite her. The agents slammed the door shut. When muffled voices drifted from outside, Jack leaned forward and glared first at Sam, then at Jennifer. “Next time, you two leave the talking to me.”

“You didn’t do much talking,” Jennifer said.

His face darkened, and he shifted his gaze to Sam.

She swallowed hard. Somehow they’d messed up. Badly. “I’m sorry, sir. I wanted to help.”

“Yeah? How long do you think it’ll take them to check your story and find out you two lied? Obstruction of justice is a punishable infraction. You gave them a reason to arrest us.” Sighing, he leaned back against the wall, then his face gentled. “Only lie to them when you know they can’t check up on your lie. Don’t give them any reason to arrest you.”

Crap. They _had_ messed up. She flinched and lowered her gaze. “I’m sorry, sir. I thought it’d buy us time. I didn’t know…I should have thought about…” She sighed.

“Yeah, well.” Jack leaned forward. “We can’t change what happened. Let me handle it from now on, though.”

“Yes, sir.”

The door opened and the commander climbed into the craft. “We couldn’t reach either of the doctors, so we’ll need to take blood samples from all of you.” He turned his head. “Larek, start with the male.”

Sam’s head snapped up. Larek? No, that couldn’t be. Surely this was a different Larek and not the one she used to date. The one she knew had wanted to study marine biology on the Aschen homeworld as soon as he passed the university entry exam.

The silhouette of a man appeared in the doorway. Tall, narrow shoulders, stiff walk. Her heart stopped and she quickly lowered her head. Damn, what were the chances? Maybe he hadn’t recognized her. She had changed her appearance after all.  She swallowed hard. _Please don’t let him recognize me._

“Samantha?”

Sam closed her eyes. Why did he have to be here? He of all people. She looked up and found Larek staring at her.

“You know her?” The high commander narrowed his eyes.

“Um, yes, sir. That’s Samantha Carter, one of the suspects we were looking for.”

Opposite her, Jack released a groan and let his head sink back against the wall.

The high commander folded his arms. “The daughter of a man arrested for terrorism this morning. Accompanied by a man holding a stolen Aschen weapon, and a woman who has an entire bag full of non-prescribed medication. Isn’t that interesting?”

Deafening silence fell between them. Sam searched Jack’s eyes. His expression didn’t change.

The high commander stepped back to the door. “You’re all under arrest for obstruction of justice and involvement in terrorist activities.” He signaled at Larek to turn around, then looked at one agent near the door. “Shackle them and lock them up. Let’s see if they’re more willing to talk once we’re in the Western district.”

Ice poured into her veins. The Western District… She’d heard stories about that place. Only the worst criminals were brought there for interrogation. Back then, she’d thought that only included murderers. Her heart pounded when cold metal cuffs closed around her wrists. They clicked, then beeped, indicating they were secured.

She met Jack’s gaze. He still looked calm. That was probably a good sign. Maybe he and Sheppard had talked about something to get them out of here. Then again, when he’d contacted Sheppard, they didn’t know yet that they were about to be arrested.

After they were all cuffed, the agent left the craft. The door slammed shut, a loud crash with a finality to it that sent cold fear down her spine.

In the dim light, she saw Jack shift on his seat. “Who the hell was that guy?”

She dropped her head against the wall behind her. Her cheeks flushed. “Larek. My ex-boyfriend.”

“Oh, fer crying out loud.” He groaned. “Your ex-boyfriend was Aschen Justice?”

“No, he wasn’t with the Justice Ministry back then. He wanted to study at the university.”

“Yeah, well, apparently he’s with the Ministry now.” He turned his wrists in the metal rings and then sighed. “I know it’s not your fault he showed up. But what are the odds?”

“Well, sir, judging by the current Aschen population living on Earth, and the number of Aschen justice agents—”

“Carter.”

Right. Probably a rhetorical question. Why did nervousness still make her babble? “Sorry. Having a problem to solve helps me not to overthink.”

Jennifer cleared her throat and looked from one to the other. “So what now? I mean, we have to do something. We can’t let them take us to the Western justice station. I heard they hold people there indefinitely and never let them go again.”

“We’re not there yet.” Again, Jack shifted in the cuffs. “Carter, any chance we can use that ex-boyfriend of yours?”

“Use him? I guess I can try to distract him, but he didn’t seem overly interested in me anymore. And he certainly won’t help us seeing that he just ratted us out.”

“We need to get out of these shackles first. Any chance we can get the keycard to open these?” His gaze darted to the door.

“Maybe we don’t need it.” Sam sat up, her gaze fixated on Jennifer’s hair. Hairpins. Thin, metal hairpins. Maybe she could…

“Carter?” Jack raised his brows at her.

“May I?” She reached up with both hands to loosen two of the pins from the front of Jennifer’s hair. “These cuffs work with an electronic lock that needs a key emitting a unique frequency to open them. If I can access the mechanism and short-circuit the power source…” She slid over to the bench on the other side to sit next to Jack, then pulled his hands into her lap.

She fumbled with the pins and tried to twist the metal block in the middle of the cuffs to gain access to the compartment holding the circuits.

“Ouch.” His breath washed against the back of her head. “Don’t forget there’s limbs attached to these.”

“Sorry, sir.” She trailed her fingers over his arms. “I’m trying my best.”

“I know you are. Just try not to break my arms.” He pecked a brief kiss on her hair, and her heart lightened. Humor. Thank God, he wasn’t mad for her slipup when she’d lied to the Aschen agents.

She muttered a curse when one of the pins slipped through her fingers. Her own cuffs didn’t make this task any easier.

“You know.” Jennifer looked at the door. “I don’t want to rush you, but the guards could be back any minute.”

“Easy.” Jack gave Sam’s arm a soothing pat. “It’s fine. She has all the time in the world. You hear me, Carter? Just breathe. Take your time. No rush.”

The hell they had. But she appreciated the effort. She took a deep breath and worked at the tiny locking mechanism again. Once she had it open, the rest should be a piece of cake. “I wish I had one of my tweezers. I’d have this open in a second.”

He gave her a wry look. “Hey, if we’re at it already, let’s just wish for the keycard. And a big honking gun.”

She released a soft chuckle. Leave it up to him to ease a tense situation. She focused her attention on the compartment again. Just another millimeter…

The locking clip snapped open. She blew out a jubilant breath before she opened the compartment. Then she examined the little circuits inside, and moved the pin to one of them. “Okay, this should open up the—” A low electric buzz sounded.

“Ouch.” Jack cursed through gritted teeth.

“Whoops.” Sam flinched. “Sorry. Wrong one.”

“You don’t say.” He rubbed his hands as best as possible.

“The lighting in here isn’t ideal. I can’t see much.”

The metal handle of the door screeched. Somebody was about to enter. Her heart started pounding again. Alright, it was now or never.

Sam jammed the pin into the remaining circuit, praying it would be enough to disrupt the energy flow.  A little spark shot out, then she heard a quiet click.

As the door squeaked open, she jumped over to the opposite bench to sit back down next to Jennifer, hairpins clasped in her fist.

Not a second too late. Larek climbed into the back of the hovercraft and slammed the heavy door closed behind him.

She sneaked a glance at Jack. He shifted his arms, sitting casually.

With heavy steps, Larek trudged over to sit on the bench next to her. She could feel his gaze on her and finally turned her head to look at him. The same blue eyes, the same serious expression. _Slave._ The last thing he’d said to her. She narrowed her eyes.

“Do you even know how much trouble you’re in?” Reproach layered through his voice. As though he cared…

The hovercraft shifted slightly. Apparently, drivers entered the steering compartment in the front. Doors crashed shut.

“We didn’t do anything wrong.” Jack leaned forward, his face displaying the same rational coolness as Larek’s. Except she knew Jack’s expression was a façade. 

“So you didn’t kill two Aschen justice agents out there in the corn field?” Larek’s voice dripped impatience. Jack’s face didn’t change. 

“We didn’t.”

Sam swallowed, when Larek locked his gaze with hers. Damn, she wasn’t even close to being as good at lying as Jack. And she was also far from being that cool and unaffected. _They don’t have any proof. Even though Jack had the gun, they can’t disprove his story._ She lifted her chin.

The engines of the hovercraft roared. They trembled when the vehicle started moving over the uneven ground.

“Sam?”

“We didn’t.” She forced herself to meet Larek’s eyes.

“You were seen at your father’s house earlier. And we have information you were scheduled to meet him there.”

How she could have ever seen anything other than a weasely Aschen playboy in him?

“Scheduled to meet?” Jack smirked. “For crying out loud, Jacob’s her father. He’s my father-in-law. We were gonna meet for cake. You make it sound like a criminal conspiracy.”

“Her father got arrested as a terrorist. We have reliable information he’s been involved with terrorist activities for at least the past year.”

“So what?” Jack said. “We’re guilty by association? We don’t know who or what he’s involved with.”

Larek hesitated, apparently contemplating the validity of his words. Then he waved towards Jennifer. “All right, if you have nothing to hide, why did you lie? And who is she?”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Jack stared at him. “Have you seen yourselves? You swarm around here and arrest everybody who’s in the vicinity. Are you seriously wondering why one might feel threatened and act defensively?”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

The two men glared at each other.

Sam cleared her throat and softened her voice. “She’s a friend of mine.” Submissive, innocent. Just as she’d always been when they’d still dated. If she convinced Larek she hadn’t changed… “I haven’t been in the region for a while. We all wanted to meet up for coffee and catch up. I had no idea my father was involved in terrorist activities, and much less that he’d been arrested.” She grabbed Larek’s hand with one of hers. “Larek, you know me. You know I was never an enemy of the Aschen government.” Not a lie. She _had_ never been. Until he’d broken up with her, and made her realize what was actually going on.

Larek’s eyes flickered with something. Sympathy? The willingness to believe her? He released a sigh and shook his head. “Sam, what do you expect me to do? You lied to the high commander.”

“I was scared. I had no idea what was going on. I’ve never done harm against the Aschen government, but you treated me like a criminal.” Also not a lie—technically. She’d never directly acted against the Aschen government before.

“Sam, all you have to do is be honest.”

“What will happen to us now?”

“You’ll be taken in for questioning. If you tell us the truth and you can’t be connected with any kind of terrorist activity, you won’t be harmed.” He turned his head and studied Jack. “Is he really your husband?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “He is. We’re officially registered. You can check.” At least that she knew was true.

Silence. The hovercraft ran over some irregularities on the ground. The vibrations of the engine hummed through her body. It would have been soothing had their surroundings been different.

Her gaze locked with Jack’s. The hint of a smirk played around his mouth, and his eyes sparkled. Undoubtedly amused by her lies.

It didn’t look as though he was gonna make use of his free hands soon. Well, what were they going to do anyway? If they jumped out of a hovercraft traveling at full speed, they’d most likely retain severe injuries. Besides, they’d never be able to run fast enough to evade recapture.

If they waited until they arrived at the Western justice station, though, there’d be no way for them to escape anymore. The Western justice station was known for its security measures. Nobody had ever escaped from there.

Jack didn’t seem to be concerned at the least. Or if he was, it didn’t show in his eyes.

Next to her, Larek turned. “You’ve changed.”

She studied him. “So have you. Aschen security agent? I thought you wanted to apply for a master’s degree in marine biology.” Hopefully her smile didn’t look as fake as she felt.

“I didn’t pass the entrance exam. Maybe next year.” His eyes drifted up to her hair, then he reached a hand out and touched the short strands at her temple. Sam forced herself not to flinch at his touch. “I love your new hairstyle. It’s different.”

_Take your filthy hands off me before I break your arm._ “Thank you.” She smiled that girlish, naïve smile she’d used so often with him. As she turned her head, her eyes met Jack’s. He observed her with an indefinable expression. His eyes had darkened, his jaw clenched. Such subtle signs, and yet she recognized them because she’d studied his features a thousand times. Ready to wring Larek’s neck, wasn’t he? She almost wished he would.

Larek brushed her hand with the hairpins. She turned and took his hand in her free one, tangling their fingers, distracting him. If he took the wrong hand and found the pins…

“Sam. About how it ended between us…I never wanted it that way, it’s just…there are laws.”

“I’m over it.” She was almost scared by how unaffected she was. _Oh my God, I really am over it._

“What I said when we broke up—”

“You were right.” She looked at Jack. “I belong with my people. We wouldn’t have had a future. You’re Aschen. I’m human. It was never serious.”

No, it hadn’t been. For such a long time she’d thought she loved Larek. But now, compared to what she felt for Jack…

“I’m glad you’re not holding a grudge. I’m glad you and your husband get along well. It was for the best.”

“Yes, it was.” Without their breakup, she’d have never joined the resistance. She’d have never learned to fight. And she would have never met Jack. Her stomach fluttered with an unfamiliar lightness. It _had_ been for the best.

Larek leaned down and opened the bag at his feet. “All right. I’m supposed to take some blood from all of you for cross-referencing your DNA with our genetic database. I’m sorry, but it’s protocol.”

“Sure.” Sam nodded and offered her arm. “Anything to support the Aschen Confederation.”

Opposite her, Jack chuckled and hurried to mask it behind a cough. She glared at him. His eyes twinkled.

The hovercraft shook again, and then turned sharply, nearly throwing them all off balance. Great, and he wanted to put a syringe in her arm under these shaky conditions?

She flinched when the sharp sting of the needle pricked her arm. Apparently the health of suspects wasn’t a concern at all. Bastard. She managed a smile when he put a band-aid on her arm.

Jennifer shifted when he slid over to sit next to her and prepared the next syringe. She winced in visible disgust. “You should apply some kind of disinfectant first. The number of bacteria present on a tiny patch of skin is incredibly high.”

He glared at her, then forcefully pulled her arm back. She yelped in protest when the needle penetrated her skin.

“Really, this is risky. I’m not kidding when I say a person can die from an infection with bacteria from unhygienic—”

“Jennifer.” Jack said, voice sharp. “Let it go. He doesn’t care.”

Visibly reluctantly, she fell silent. Larek had just finished drawing Jennifer’s blood when the hovercraft slowed until it came to a halt. Sam straightened. They couldn’t have reached the Western justice station yet. It was at least a twenty-minute drive from her father’s home to the Western district, even on the most modern hovercraft.

“Why did we stop?” She looked at Larek.

“Probably exchanging info with another security craft.” He got up and sat down next to Jack.

She was just about to relax back against the wall when Jack jerked his arm up. His fist impacted Larek’s nose. Before the Aschen could react, he jumped up and delivered another blow against his head. Larek slumped against the wall, and then down on the bench without a sound. Talk about unexpected ambush.

Jack signaled to the door, and she jumped up. The door handle creaked when she pushed it. She froze. Voices. Right outside. Damn.

She flinched at Jack, who searched Larek and took his gun. She wasn’t in an ideal position to fight with her hands cuffed.

Finally, Jack nodded at her to step aside. He kicked the door open. It bumped right into one agent, who went to the ground groaning. Jack fired a shot at the second one before the man even realized what was going on. Then he jumped down to the pavement.

She followed him and looked around. Forests surrounded them. They had to have taken the road around Powhatan’s center. Jack searched the agent, took his gun and some smaller items. Then he turned.

Jennifer stood on the craft and stared at them, wide-eyed and apparently unsure of whether to trust them.

“Come on.” He grabbed her around the waist and lifted her down. “We gotta hurry.”

The second agent who’d been hit by the door stirred, then fought to get back up. Sam didn’t hesitate. A well-placed kick sent him back to the ground. Jack lifted the gun and shot the agent into paralysis.

He urged Sam gently towards the tree line, off the road. She looked at the street in front of them. A fallen tree blocked the way. What a lucky coincidence.

Panting, she almost stumbled on the uneven forest floor. Cuffed hands didn’t make running any easier. In front of her, Jack slowed.

“Jack, where are we go—”An ear-shattering crash sent her flying to the ground. Her ears hummed and dizziness made the world spin in front of her. Disoriented, Sam lifted her head and leaned up on her arms. _What on Earth?_

She turned. The Aschen hovercraft had turned into a blazing fireball. She held her breath and got to her feet, staring at what used to be the vehicle. What could have caused an explosion like that?

Then she froze. Larek… Oh God, he’d still been inside.

Something stung in her chest, made her want to run to the burning craft and pull him out. What was the matter with her? He was the enemy. He’d betrayed her. She hated him. Hated. Him.

Besides, there was no way he’d survived the explosion.

She imagined his face. How he’d smiled at some of her jokes. Told her about his studies and school. Kissed her. One year they’d been together. It’d been a good year, regardless of how it ended. And still, after all she knew now… Why did his death leave her so empty?

What was that feeling? Love? Fulfilled revenge? Rage? Sadness? Maybe a little bit of everything.

“Hey.” A warm palm on her shoulder made her turn her head. Jack’s face swam before her eyes. She tried to give him a smile, but undoubtedly failed.

“He was the enemy,” he said, voice gentle.

“Yeah.” She took a deep breath and wiped her hand across her eyes. “I know. He deserved this.”

“It’s not that simple, is it?” He drew her close and dropped a quick kiss against her temple. “Come on, we gotta go.”

Casting a last glance at the burning hovercraft, she hurried to follow Jack. He’d changed direction and ran back towards the street.

Next to Sam, Jennifer panted. “Guys, shouldn’t we be running into the forest? I’m sure their reinforcements will be here any minute, and if we stay on the road—”

Jack turned his head. “Our reinforcements are here now.”

As they reached the pavement, the puddle jumper de-cloaked in front of them and Sheppard stepped out.

“Get inside. Hurry.” His gaze rested on Jennifer, his face hardening. “Who the hell’s that?”

Jack passed him by and smacked his shoulder in greeting. “A fugitive. Doctor. She saved Carter’s life. She’s with us, at least for now.”

“Ah.” Sheppard’s face softened and he grinned at the young doctor who looked even more nervous than before. “In that case, step inside please.” He held his hand out in invitation. Jennifer gave him a reluctant smile.

Once inside, Sam dropped onto one of the benches near the wall. Sheppard closed the hatch and hurried to the pilot’s chair.

Jennifer looked around with wide eyes. “What is this place? Who are you people?”

“Classified.” Sheppard’s voice drifted from the pilot’s seat as the jumper lifted into the air. He turned his head to Jack. “Unless you’ve been cleared?”

“She hasn’t. She just wants to get out of Powhatan. Right?”

Jennifer stared at him. Her nod was visibly hesitant. “Right.”

Jack lowered in front of Sam. She handed the hairpins to him, and he went to work opening her cuffs. “Jennifer, the original offer still stands. If you change your mind, let me know…”

The cuffs clicked open. Sam released a relieved breath and rubbed her wrists. He gave her arm a warm, reassuring squeeze and placed the pins in her hand. “Can you take care of hers? I gotta talk to Sheppard.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you.”

As Jack strolled to the front of the jumper, Sam slid over to Jennifer. Narrowing her eyes, she tried to open the little compartment of the cuffs.

“Can I ask you something?” Jennifer asked.

“Sure.”

“Are you resistance?”

Sam glanced at Jack and Sheppard. They were obviously not listening to them. Damn. She wasn’t authorized to give any information away.

Jennifer cleared her throat. “I don’t want to cause trouble. It’s just…you offered me a place to stay, and I want to be sure, if I decided to take it, I wouldn’t be joining an organization of criminal slave traders.”

Fair enough, and yet... Sam met her gaze. “I can’t answer your question. But as far as I know, doctors have an excellent insight into human nature. Maybe you should trust your initial assessment of us.”

Pretty fine line she was walking here. Her cryptic hint sounded almost too much like a yes. The cuffs clicked open and Jennifer rubbed her wrists. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.” Sam leaned her head back and closed her eyes. No more tasks to fulfill. She could rest. Finally. Her muscles ached and her head thudded with a dull pain. Too much had happened.

Her stomach clenched when the full realization of what had happened, dawned on her. The Aschen had arrested him and were doing who knew what to him at that very moment.

Detainees were usually tortured for information, although officially the Aschen government kept insisting they’d never used any kind of torture against humans. She’d heard stories of the methods they used to gain information.

Days of keeping suspects in a dark room. Starving them. Beating them. Depriving them of sleep. Putting a wet cloth over their face and draining water down on it until the victim thought he was dying. Her throat constricted. They would kill him as soon as they had all the information they needed.

Last time she’d seen him she’d been so angry at him. She’d said such horrible things. _I’m so sorry._

Larek’s death should lift her spirits at least a little. Instead everything had become even darker, and she felt so…so numb. What was going on?

She stared at the grey wall of the jumper.

“You should rest. Your body’s been through a lot.” Jennifer’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

She frowned at the young doctor. The last thing she needed was being patronized about what she should and shouldn’t do.

Jennifer swallowed visibly. “I’m just saying. The Aschen stun gun put an incredible strain on your body. If we were at a hospital, I’d put you on a mineral infusion to prevent any long term deficiencies.”

“Yeah well, that’s not really an option at the moment, is it?”

Silence. Then Jennifer turned her head to look at her again. “I’m sorry. About your ex-boyfriend, I mean.”

“Can we not talk about that?”

“Sure.” Jennifer leaned her head back against the wall. “I’m sorry.”

Sam closed her eyes. Yeah, that had been uncalled for. “No, _I’m_ sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude. I just have a lot on my mind right now.”

The jumper gave a slight bump as it set down on the ground. She lifted her head as Sheppard and Jack got up and opened the exit.  “What’s going on?”

Jack stopped in front of Jennifer. “If you wanna leave, now’s your chance. We’re about two hundred miles south of Powhatan, far enough for you to go anywhere you wanna go without running into Aschen Justice.”

“I…” Jennifer got up slowly. “What if I wanted to take you up on your offer?”

“Then you’d be welcome to.”

“Okay.” She inhaled deeply, then looked from Jack to Sam. Back to Jack. “I might regret this, but if what you said is true, if I can in fact study under a real doctor in your organization, I’d like to try it.” Sheppard and O’Neill exchanged a glance. Jennifer cleared her throat. “You said you needed a second doctor.”

“ _I’ll try it_ is not exactly the answer we are looking for,” Sheppard said.

Jennifer looked from one man to the other. Then she straightened and lifted her chin. “Honestly, I don’t know what else to tell you. I don’t know you people. If you’re the resistance against the Aschen, I want to join you. If you aren’t, and I’ll end up in a slave labor camp or patching up injured sex workers in a mob hospital, I reserve the right to end my commitment.”

Sam lowered her head to stifle a smile. She was kinda cute trying to play brave. And it would have worked, had every one of her limbs not visibly trembled in fear. She looked up at Jack and cocked her head. _Come on, sir, don’t give her a hard time._

Jack smirked and relaxed his stance. “All right. We’ll have to sedate you.”

“You…what?”

“It’s fine.” Sam put her hand on her shoulder. “It’s just for our protection until you’re cleared.”

“You guarantee I won’t wake up prisoner in some slave camp?”

Jack gave a firm nod. “You have my word.”

“Okay. Not sure that counts for much, but up to now you’ve stood by what you said.” She sighed. “Do what you have to do.”

“Sheppard…” He nodded at the other colonel, then he locked his gaze with Sam’s. “Carter, a word?”

Confused, Sam followed him down the ramp outside. Crisp wind made her shiver, and she rubbed her arms against the breeze. Sheppard had parked in the middle of a vast field on a cliff. On the right, the Atlantic Ocean sparkled under the rays of the evening sun. So peaceful. She inhaled the salty air.

When they were about ten meters away from the jumper, Jack turned. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” She swallowed when he tilted his head, studying her. “As okay as possible after everything that happened.”

He took her hands, his thumbs trailing over her wrists. “We had to blow up the hovercraft with the puddle jumper to make it look like we’d all died in it. I know Larek’s death unsettled you and—”

“It didn’t. It’s fine. It was the only reasonable solution.” She closed her eyes. If only the numbness inside her would go away. “There was nothing between Larek and me anymore.” She squeezed his hands. 

“I know that.” He drew her closer. “But revenge is not as satisfying as one might think.”

She looked up, drowning in his eyes. The evening sun brought out the chestnut in them.

“You’re allowed to be sad, you know? Nobody’ll judge you.”

“I’m not…” She sighed.

Had she ever loved Larek? Maybe she’d thought she did at some point, but with what she knew now… She studied the man in front of her. Jack. The wind ruffled his short, unruly hair.

“He was the reason I joined the resistance. I wanted to become stronger so that one day I could take revenge and pay him back for what he did. Show him I’m not a slave. And now he’s dead.” She swallowed against a lump in her throat. “Suddenly all that is gone, and I feel so empty.”

“C’mere.” He pulled her into his arms and nuzzled her neck.

“And my dad…” Her eyes burned. She didn’t wanna cry. Not now. “We have to get him back.”

“Yeah, about that.” He cupped her face with his hands. “I won’t go home to Antarctica with you. I’ll go back to Powhatan and find your dad.”

Her heart beat faster. She gave him a determined nod. “I’ll go with you.”

“No. You’ll go with Sheppard.”

“But you’ll need backup. I know Powhatan like the back of my hand. I know people there who could—”

“Carter.” He frowned at her. “That wasn’t a request.”

She lifted her chin and folded her arms. _Not a request_? How dare he talk to her like that when it was about her family? Her father. He had no right to make this decision for her. “Jack, you can’t expect me to—”

“Yes, I can, _Ensign_.” His eyes flared. “I’m your commanding officer, and I’m giving you a direct order.”

She gritted her teeth against a curse. He couldn’t tell her what to do. Not now. Not when her dad’s life was at stake. She spun to face the ocean, her fingers clutching the material of her shirt. They’d agreed he’d never abuse his command position. How could he order her not to join the search for her father? She knew Powhatan better than anyone else. “If this is because you want to protect me—”

 “No, Carter, it’s not.” A sharp undertone layered through. “And I’m not in the mood to discuss my decision with you.”

She scoffed. “Oh, how convenient.”

“As your commanding officer, I don’t have to justify my orders.”

She turned and glared at him. His eyes blazed and for a moment their eyes fought a silent battle, before his face gentled.

“Sam. Aside from the fact you just got shot, you have no solo mission training. I don’t have the time to teach you the skills you need for this mission. You’re not qualified.”

Her shoulders slumped. He was right. She hadn’t received solo mission training. She hadn’t been trained for any on-world missions or contact with the Aschen. Damn it, why did his reasoning have to be so logical?

“You’re most likely on the Aschen’s wanted list, so I want you as far from Powhatan as possible.” He stepped up to her and pulled her close. “You’d be a liability. I can’t afford to have to watch out for someone. The nature of this mission leaves little room for teamwork. You gotta trust me.”

“It’ll be dangerous.” Her eyes found the horizon. Infinite blue of the water melting into red sky.

“It will.”

“You’ll be on your own.” She wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him impossibly closer. He’d be all alone. Nobody to watch his back. If something went wrong…

“It’s nothing I haven’t done before. I was trained for these kinds of missions. I’m used to working alone.” He lifted his head and gave her a gentle smile. “That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t prefer working with my team.”

She smiled through her pain, cupped his cheek with her hand, and placed his forehead against hers. “Promise me you’ll be careful.”

“I promise.” He turned his head and placed a hot kiss against her palm.

She’d have to let him go. She’d lost her father. What if she lost Jack too? Her breath hitched when he pulled her into a tight embrace once more.

“I’ll bring your dad back to you.”

Behind them, Sheppard cleared his throat. “She’s unconscious. Ready to start if you are.”

“All right.” Jack nodded. “Carter’ll be right in with you. Sheppard.”

Sheppard raised his brows.

Jack cleared his throat. “Take care of her, will you?”

Sheppard nodded. “Of course. And you be safe.” He disappeared in the jumper.

Sam turned back to Jack. At the horizon, the ocean glowed red as the sun touched it. “I’ll see you when you get back?”

“Yeah sure, ya betcha.” His eyes sparkled. She smiled through the sting in her chest and took a step backwards toward the jumper. “Hey.” His hand closed around her wrist.

The next moment, he pressed her flat against his chest, his hot lips taking hers. Her palms flat against his chest, she opened her mouth to his darting tongue, melted into him. His heart pounded hard and fast under her fingers. She leaned into him, allowed herself to fall into the kiss.

If only this moment wouldn’t end. If only she could freeze time. This felt too much like a last goodbye.

She clutched his shirt as if, by sheer willpower, she could delay their separation. When they broke apart, her vision blurred. She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered against the cold.

As he turned and trudged over the grass towards the next road in the distance, she watched him grow smaller and smaller. If only she could go with him.

She turned and, after one last glance at the ocean, stepped into the jumper. The hatch hummed as it slowly shut. As the locks clicked into place, the finality of the sound made her throat tighten. She closed her eyes and laid her hand against the cold metal.

_Please come back to me._


	39. Damage Control

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> This version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).
> 
>  
> 
> Now you can also find an ebook version of this story on my website, including lots of bonus material as well as the first publication version of Stargate Aschen. (Click image to download.)  
> 
> 
>   
>  [](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-free-stargate-sg-1-ebook/)   
>    
> 

Cold crept through the tent walls. Sam buried herself deeper in the sleeping bag suddenly way too big for her. Three days without a word. What if Jack had been captured? What if her dad was already dead when Jack found him?

She took a deep breath. _Stop over-thinking. Everything will be fine._ If something had gone wrong, they’d already have received word. Or would they? If Jack had been captured, would anybody ever know?

Voices drifted from outside. She lifted her head and looked at the dark tent entrance, then at the clock on the wooden box next to the sleeping bag. _1.00 am._ Did the recruits have another night drill scheduled? The voices grew louder.

“Dr. Fraiser. We need your help.”

Sheppard. Sam sat up. Something had to have happened if he called for the doctor at this hour. She peeled out of the sleeping bag and hurriedly pulled on her pants and boots.

By the time she ran up the hill towards the medical tent, people had already gathered in front of it. Sheppard and Siler carried an unconscious man inside. She staggered, then sped up. Could it be…?

“What’s going on?” She touched Daniel’s shoulder.

The archeologist turned and raised his eyebrows. “It’s Jacob.”

“Dad?” Blood drained from her face. An unconscious man… Sheppard yelling for help… Oh, God. “Excuse me.” She pushed through the people in front of the entrance and almost stumbled into the tent.

Janet whirled around and gathered medical instruments from the shelves. On the big table towards the end of the tent lay the tall figure of a man. Sam stepped closer. Even in the dim light of the petroleum lamps, she recognized his face.

“Dad.” Her breath caught. His face was severely bruised, his arm hanging down at an odd angle. Bruises covered the exposed skin on his hands and arms. She covered her mouth with her hands. “Oh God, is he…”

Jennifer straightened and hurried toward her. “You shouldn’t be in here.”

“Is he dead?” The tent swam in front of her eyes.

“No, he’s alive. But we’ll have to treat him right away. Please.” Jennifer squeezed her arm. “Sam, you need to leave.”

Mind going numb, she nodded and turned. Her thoughts swirled. What had the Aschen done to her father?

Outside, she dropped onto one of the boxes and buried her face in her hands. If only they hadn’t gone to meet him that day. Maybe his cover wouldn’t have been blown. How had he gotten back here anyway? Had Jack returned?

A warm arm wrapped around her and gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. Hope made her stomach flutter. She lifted her head and looked into Sheppard’s hazel eyes. He gave her a reassuring smile. “He’s gonna be fine.”

She swallowed hard and nodded, then wiped the back of her hand across her eyes. “Where did you find my dad? Is Jack back?”

“I had a meeting scheduled with him. He had to stay in Powhatan to tie up some loose ends. He’ll return in a few days.”

A few more days? Her heart sank. “Is he all right?”

Sheppard nodded. “He’s fine. He’s got a few bruises but that’s to be expected on this kind of mission. Everything went well.”

“Bruises?” Her heart pounded loud and fast in her ears. Hurt. Jack was hurt.

“Don’t worry. Nothing major.” Sheppard stretched and took a deep breath. “If you need a day off, I can clear your duty roster for tomorrow. You know… deal with McKay and all.”

She shook her head and forced a smile. “Thank you. Sir. But that’s not necessary. Work helps me keep my mind off things.”

“Yeah.” He chuckled. “Jack predicted you’d say that. You should get some sleep.”

“I will.” She looked toward the entrance of the medical tent. “As soon as I know dad’s fine.”

Sheppard gave her back a gentle pat and got up. “Let me know if you need anything.”

“Thank you, sir.” This time, she didn’t have to force the smile.

He winked at her before he turned and strolled towards the food tent. Sam looked after him, then closed her eyes. Jack had managed to free her father from Aschen custody. Surely the Aschen weren’t happy about that. What if he was on their wanted list? Was it safe for him to remain in Powhatan?

She rubbed her fingers across her forehead. _Stop overthinking._ If only she could.

Hours passed. When the sky turned pink with the dawning sunlight, Jennifer finally peaked out of the medical tent. Sam sat up.

Dark rings lined the young doctor’s eyes, but she smiled when she spotted Sam. “You can come in now. He’s still unconscious, but out of danger.”

“Oh, thank God.” She jumped up.

Jennifer opened the tent flap and let her inside. In the corner, Janet placed her surgical instruments in a little basin for cleaning. A standard procedure Sam had witnessed countless times. Still, it was always different when the patient was someone close to her.

Her father lay in one of the field beds. Pale. Eyes closed. When she placed her palm on his forehead, his skin felt hot.

Janet stepped closer while she dried her hands with a towel.

Jennifer pulled a second woolen blanket over his body. “He’ll make it. But…” She swallowed visibly, and held Sam’s gaze.

“But what?” Sam straightened, brows raised. When Jennifer looked at Janet as if searching for help, she held her breath. “Janet? What’s going on?”

Janet’s face gentled. “Sam, we couldn’t undo all of the damage done to him during the torture. His spinal cord was fractured. Even when his broken leg is healed… he’ll never be able to walk again.”

Cold poured into every cell of her body. Paralyzed. Her dad was paralyzed. “Oh, God.”

“I’m sorry, Sam.”

“But he will survive?” Her throat constricted as she lowered her eyes. Her father, once so strong and confident, lay weak and broken in the bed in front of her.

“Physically, he should make a full recovery.” Janet placed a hand on her shoulder. “But it’ll be hard for him to accept his condition.”

“Are you sure it’ll be permanent?” Sam turned her head to the doctor. “Maybe if we got him to an Aschen hospital, or had more advanced Aschen medical instruments—”

“The damage is done.” Janet shook her head. “Not even more advanced Aschen instruments will make a difference. There’ve been cases where the swelling that caused a paralysis slowly healed and enabled the patient to walk again. But those were rare cases. And with your father’s injuries…”

She closed her eyes and lowered herself to her knees next to the bed. Her fingers curled into the blanket while she studied his face. Jaw clenched, she tried to suppress the rage flooding her. What kind of monster would do something like this? Torture him, break his spine, beat him…

The Aschen were monsters. All of them. How foolish of her to feel a sting of sympathy for Larek when he’d died. He’d ratted them out, and if they hadn’t managed to escape in time, she, Jennifer and Jack might be in the same position as her dad now. He’d deserved to die. They all did.

A gentle squeeze on her shoulder pulled her back to reality.

“He’ll be alive and safe, Sam,” Janet said. “That’s all that matters. One more day, and it might have been too late. Thank God, O’Neill and Sheppard got him here in time.”

“Yeah.” She leaned forward and placed a kiss on her dad’s forehead. A hot tear trailed down her cheek.

Jack… Warmth flooded her. He’d risked everything to go after him. What if the Aschen captured him while he tied up some loose ends—whatever that meant. Would they do the same to him? Or worse? Her stomach clenched and she swallowed hard against the lump in her throat.

The rustling of the tent flap made her turn her head. McKay entered, then stopped when he spotted Sam and Janet. “I didn’t know you were...” He cleared his throat.

“Rodney.” Janet turned. “How can I help you?”

“I wasn’t… I wanted… I need a band aid.”

Janet raised her eyebrows. Sam looked up, her confusion pushing the feelings of vengeance away for the moment. What was up with McKay? Not that odd behavior was unusual for him, but this was pushing it.

“Are you okay?” Janet asked.

“Yeah. Sure. Fine. Why?” McKay said, brows scrunching while his gaze raced around the tent. When Jennifer stepped out behind the room divider with a file in her hand, his face lit up.

She smiled at him, visibly confused. “Dr. McKay.”

McKay straightened. “Rodney.”

“Rodney,” Jennifer repeated, the hint of a smile playing around her lips. “Did you need anything?”

“Oh, just, a band aid. It’s nothing really…”

“Let me see.” She dropped the file and examined the finger he held up. After a moment, she lifted her head. “That’s a paper cut.”

McKay shifted. “Really? You sure? It’s really deep and I don’t wanna get an infection or something.”

“I’m sure. Here…” She turned and took a band aid from the shelf.

“Thanks.” He fumbled and wrapped the small band aid around his finger.

Sam lowered her head, failing to stifle a grin. Not that McKay’s sensitivity to minor injuries was new—but his awkwardness about them definitely was.

“So…” The scientist fidgeted. “The sun’s risen already. I thought I’d go have breakfast.”

Jennifer nodded. “Okay, don’t let me keep you.”

“Have you eaten anything yet? ‘Cause if you haven’t, you know… You could join me. For breakfast. At the food tent.” He waved his hands awkwardly towards the exit.

The young doctor looked down at the file in her hand, then back up at him. “Um… Yeah. Sure, I’d love to. Just give me a few minutes to finish up here.”

“Great. I’ll meet you there then?”

“Okay.”

Rodney glanced at Sam and Janet, then turned and left the tent. When he was outside, Janet stared at Jennifer. “What on Earth was that?”

Jennifer cleared her throat. “He was just being nice.”

“Oh, that wasn’t being nice. If I didn’t know better I’d say McKay was trying to flirt with you. He was almost charming—for McKay’s standards.” Janet nudged Sam, who straightened with a smile.

“Really? You think?” Hope shimmered in Jennifer’s eyes.

Janet folded her arms. “Definitely.” She studied the younger doctor for a long moment. “You like him, don’t you?”

“I think he’s sweet.” Her face turned a deeper shade of red. “Not that I’m interested. I mean, he’s a good-looking man. And very charming.”

“ _Charming_?” Sam and Janet repeated at the same time.

“On my second day here, he gave me a tour of the entire camp. You know, showed me around, introduced me to everyone...”

“McKay?” Sam raised her brows at the young doctor.

“Yeah… Why?” Jennifer placed her file on the table.

Sam shook her head. “No reason. It’s just, he usually doesn’t give tours. And most people wouldn’t attribute the word _charming_ to McKay.”

Janet chuckled. “Most people wouldn’t call him sweet, either.”

“I admit he can be a little condescending sometimes. But he’s a good guy. And he has a great sense of humor,” Jennifer said.

Grinning, Janet walked towards the desk and picked up the file. “Well, why don’t I finish up here then and you go and have breakfast with him?”

Jennifer’s face lit up. “Thank you.” Arms wrapped around herself, she hurried out of the tent.

Janet raised her brows at Sam. “Well, look at that. McKay has a thing for our new doctor.”

“I think the feeling’s mutual. Just… Janet. Stay out of it this time.” Sam ran her fingers through her ruffled hair. She knew that look on her face all too well.

“Oh, don’t worry. It doesn’t look like those two need a push in the right direction like _some_ people did.”

Sam’s smile faded when she turned back to the bed. A painful sting in her heart replaced the short-lived amusement McKay and Jennifer had provided. “When do you think my dad will come to?”

“It might take some time. He’s been through a lot and he’ll need lots of rest. Why don’t you go and sleep for a few hours. I’ll call you as soon as he’s awake.”

Exhaustion began to catch up with her. She nodded. “Thank you, Janet. For saving his life.”

“Don’t thank me, sweetie. If Jack hadn’t rescued him in time there’s nothing I could’ve done. You should thank him.”

She would. Definitely. And very thoroughly. As soon as he was back.

 

***

 

Sam squinted her eyes against the light, then lifted the tweezers. If she managed to reconnect these two circuits… The tiny screen on the device flickered. “Yes.”

Familiar symbols flashed across the screen. The language of the Ancients. Oh, Daniel would be so thrilled when he saw this. She wouldn’t be able to read this without his help.

“Sam?”

She looked up. Daniel. As if he’d sensed her discovery. “Just the person I need. I got the artifact from PY4-MX2 to work, but I can’t read the—”

“Sam, what are you doing here?” Daniel pushed his glasses further up on his nose.

She stared at him. “I work here?”

He coughed. “I mean, why aren’t you with Jack?”

She straightened. Jack? Was he… “Where is he?”

“He didn’t tell you? He got back from Powhatan over two hours ago.”

He did _what_? Anger welled up inside her. He’d returned from Powhatan. Here she was trying to drown herself in work to distract herself from the thought he might never return, and he hadn’t even had the decency to tell her he was back? “Is he all right?”

“Yeah. He’s fine. He just finished lunch and a briefing with Sheppard and Mitchell, and wanted to… Sam, where are you going?”

Fists clenched, she stormed out of the tent. Idiot. For days, she’d only slept a few hours at night, worrying about when he’d return. _If_ he’d return. Whether he’d be all right.

Countless nightmares had tormented her. Nightmares of him being captured and tortured by Aschen Justice. Being killed. And now he was back and she had to hear about it from Daniel? _Two_ hours after he’d returned?

She systematically went from tent to tent. Command tent. Briefing tent. Food tent. Nothing. Then she glared at his personal tent. She almost ran the last five meters and threw the tent flap aside.

There he was. Standing next to the sleeping bag in the middle of their tent. He hadn’t even tried to look for her, had he?

Daniel had been right. He looked well. Relief flooded her for a moment, before anger took over again. “Do you have any idea what it’s like, worrying every day about whether you’d come back? If I’d see you again?”

Jack spun, eyebrows raised. “Excuse me?”

She folded her arms and managed a glare. “Did you even think about dropping by my tent and letting me know you’re okay?”

“I haven’t had time yet.” His eyes darkened.

“ _You haven’t had time yet_?” Definitely not the apology she’d counted on. She scoffed. “Two hours, during which you had time for lunch and briefings, but not even one minute to drop by and give me a short hello?”

“Resistance matters trump personal needs, Carter.”

Personal needs? She stared at him, fuming. Giving her a brief notice was personal needs? This was ridiculous. And what was with that tone? As though he didn’t care at all.

“You know, Daniel’s right. You can be a real ass,” she said, surprised at how calm she sounded even to herself. Had she overestimated her importance in his life? Pain stabbed at her chest.

Swallowing hard, she spun. Before she could walk straight back outside, his fingers closed around her wrist in a steel-like grip, locking her in place.

She glared at him. “Let go.”

When she looked up, fire sparkled in his eyes. _He_ was mad? Her rage mounted.

“Jack, let go. You didn’t wanna tell me you’re back. Now I’m not in the mood to talk to you.”

He pulled her close, forcing her to face him. She smacked his chest, but he caught her other wrist too and pinned her arms on her back. She twisted in his grip, tried to wriggle free. What the hell did he think he was doing?

Before she had a chance to voice a protest, she was in his arms, pressed against the hard planes of his chest. His face buried in her neck, his hot breath fanning her ear, cheek and jawline. Breath hitching, she relaxed against him. He released her hands to hold her close, and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, increasing their contact. His scent filled her nostrils. His heat burned through the clothing.

He was home. Safe. Anger forgotten, she threaded her fingers through his hair. His breath came hot and fast against the side of her neck. After a long moment, she leaned back. Hands cupping his face, she studied him.

A wound near his eyebrow had needed stitches. He had a few scratches. Some bruises. Other than that, he seemed fine. She opened her mouth, wanting to ask him how the mission had been, tell him about the past days at camp. Tell him how much she’d missed him.

Before she could, his lips crashed down on hers, taking with a fervency that staggered her. Thoughts of talk vanished into oblivion. His tongue darted out, brushed against hers, then pushed into her mouth. A jolt of heat almost knocked her off her feet. She whimpered into the kiss.

**_{SHORTENED to keep this version M-rated! You can find the[full version on my website](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-chapter-39-damage-control-unabridged/).}_ **

“Oh, damn.” Her whisper was shaky. “What if somebody heard us?”

He dropped his face to her neck, smirking. “Doubt it.” And even if, at least he’d reaffirmed his claim on her. Better not tell her that, though. She’d give him hell. He nuzzled her neck. “I missed you.”

She wrapped her arms around him and tangled her fingers in his hair. “I’m really glad you’re okay.”

“Even though I’m an ass?”

Laughing, she hid her face against his neck.

Jack smirked and relaxed into her embrace. So warm. Home. He was home.

 

***

 

After Jack had rolled off her, Sam snuggled up to him, her head resting on his shoulder while she played with the soft hair on his chest. A long moment of silence passed, before she lifted her head. “You wanna tell me what happened?”

He raised his brows at her.

“Well,” she said awkwardly, “you’re not usually this aggressive in bed. Not that I’m complaining either way. You wanna talk about it?”

Sighing, he brushed his hand through her hair. “Not really. Lots of violence during the past days. I had to do a coupla things I’m not proud of.” He sighed and pulled her close to drop a tender kiss against her forehead.

She brushed her lips against his. “Can I do anything?”

His hand caressed her nape. “You already have. More than you know. God…” His head dropped back on the pillow. “I’m exhausted now.”

“Well, satisfying sex releases endorphins. Those make you wind down and counter-effect stress and adrenalin in the body. It’s common to feel the need for sleep after sex, especially for men. Scientifically, what happens is—”

“Carter.”

_Oh boy._ “Sorry. It just…happens.”

He chuckled. “I don’t care how or why it works. Just happy with the effect.” He captured her hand in his. Sam studied the difference in their skin color when he entwined their fingers. “It’s good to be back.”

“It’s good to have you back.” She relaxed against his warm hand stroking up and down her spine. “The thought that I might never see you again… It terrified me.”

He pulled her closer, but remained quiet.

“Thank you for bringing my dad back.” She closed her eyes. “You went through a lot for that.”

“Ah.” Jack waved her statement off. “Jacob and I save each other’s lives all the time. At least now we’re even, and he can’t blackmail me into another marriage contract.”

She snapped her head up. “He didn’t.”

His eyes sparkled with humor. “Oh yeah. Guilted me right into it.”

“Oh God.” She gave him a sad smile. Dad. He’d been so strong once, and now… If he ever recovered, he’d be a cripple. Someday, she’d pay the Aschen back for what they’d done to him.

Jack nuzzled her neck. “He’ll be fine. He can stay here with us at Antarctica.”

“I know. I just wish they hadn’t…” She swallowed against a lump in her throat. “I really hate the Aschen.”

“They know we have operatives in the government. That’s why they interrogated him so harshly. We’re becoming a real threat to them which means we’re gonna have to be more careful.”

She enlaced her fingers with his larger, longer ones. After a long moment of silence, she leaned up on her elbow. “I moved all my things here. Into your tent.” She indicated a box in one of the corners. Okay, maybe _all my stuff_ had been a bit of an exaggeration considering she only had that one box. 

His hand in her hair halted as he glanced around.

Her stomach tightened. Had she been too bold doing that? “Janet and I rearranged the tent to make space for Jennifer. And since I sleep here all the time anyway... It seemed so impractical to have to walk to another tent every morning, and I thought… I can move it back if you want.”

He raised his brows. “Do you _wanna_ move it back?”

“Do _you_ want me to move it back?”

He smirked. “I asked first.”

“No, technically I did. The question was implied.”

“Sam.” He drawled her name and gave her hand a squeeze. “I don’t want you to move anything back. I like having you around.”

“I don’t want to seem clingy.”

“Fer crying out loud.” He stared at her, bewilderment in his eyes. “Carter, there are many words I’d attribute to you. Clingy is definitely not among of them.” She cocked her head when he ruffled his hand through her hair. “As you said, it’s impractical for you to have to walk somewhere else to get your stuff all the time. There’s more than enough space here.”

“You sure?”

“Definitely. Unless you’re planning on following Daniel’s example. I draw the line at you stacking this tent full of doohickeys and physics books.”

She laughed, then grew serious when a thought hit her. “That means we’re officially living together now?”

“Guess so.” He looked at her hesitantly. “Scared?”

“No.” Her stomach fluttered. “Maybe a little nervous. I like the thought, though.”

“Good.” He kissed her wrist. “It’s not gonna be much different. You’ve spent every night here for what, over a month now?”

“Yeah.” He was right. Technically, they’d already lived together. She’d only gone to her own tent to get her shower products and fresh clothing in the morning. Only now, she didn’t have a backup anymore. “I’ll just have to make a plan for when you decide to behave like a jerk.”

“Hey.” He gave her a blank look. “We dealt with that situation pretty well just now, didn’t we?”

She burst out laughing and hid her face against his shoulder.

His face grew serious. “You were right. I should’ve told you I’m back. I’m sorry.” His warm lips grazed her cheek.

She met his gaze. “Why didn’t you?”

“I wanted to blow off steam first. I didn’t want you to see…” He swallowed hard and dropped his head back on the pillow.

“What?”

“I can get pretty dark. And back when we did the weapons deal with Reddington, and he shot one of his gangsters, you got scared. I didn’t want you to see that side of me. Not again.”

“I saw it in Powhatan when you killed the Aschen agents.” She lifted her hand to his cheek, her heart swelling with affection. “It doesn’t scare me. I know you don’t enjoy it. We do what needs to be done. And you’d never hurt me.”

He held her gaze for a long time without a word.

She brushed her nose against his. “I don’t want you to hide from me. Or pretend to be someone you’re not. We have each other’s backs, remember?”

“Come here.” He wrapped his arms around her and rolled them both over, then buried his face in her neck. When he tickled her skin with his nose, Sam giggled and held him close. He breathed against her neck. “I was wrong. I still owe Jacob.”

Confused, she stared at the top of his head. “Why?”

“For meeting you.”

 

***

 

_10 days later_

Sam gritted her teeth against an outcry when her body slammed to the ground. Damn it. Again?

Jack leaned over to look at her, a self-confident smirk pulling at his lips. He was so enjoying this. Maybe she shouldn’t have insisted on the training session. He was way out of her league, and so far she didn’t seem to grasp his advance attack techniques at all.

“You did it again.”

_Tell me something new._ “I know.” Growling, she struggled to stand. Her back hurt. So did her ass. Flinching, she leaned her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath.

“You okay?”

“Yeah.” She straightened. She’d be damned if she gave up like that. The thrill of a challenge flared up inside her. “I’m fine.”

“You told me not to go easy on you.” He tossed a bottle of water at her. She caught it and opened it.

“So I did,” she said, before she swallowed some of the water, the liquid cooling her throat. As she handed it back, she grinned. “Ready for another round?”

His eyes sparkled. “I’m not even breaking a sweat yet.”

“Show-off.”

No chance she’d win against him. But maybe experiencing the attack patterns would teach her some of the more basic techniques. It wasn’t about winning. Yet, maybe someday, she’d get close to his skill level. 

Just that, at this very moment, learning proved to be a very painful experience. She winced and pressed her hand against the stinging in her side. “Let me try again.”

Jack raised his eyebrows and studied her.  At last, he straightened with a shake of his head and pointed at the ground in front of him. “Come here.”

Sam dropped her arms and approached him.

“Turn around.”

She did, and he stepped closer.

“Take stance.” His voice rasped low and deep in her ear.

Definitely the wrong moment to have her legs turn to jelly. _Focus!_

His warm palm seared through her shirt at her waist, the other resting on her abdomen. She jerked. Seriously? Was he trying to drive her crazy?

His warm breath fanned her neck. Oh yeah, this was definitely on purpose.

“This is your center.” He pressed against her back, forcing her to tilt her hips gently forward. “You aren’t grounded. Your body needs stability. That’ll make it harder for your opponent to knock you off your feet. Feel that?” He moved her hips, tilting them back and forth, each time pushing against her body lightly. “The way you stand, it’s pretty easy to knock you off your feet. If you go from defense to offense, you’ll need a lot more stability.”

She ignored the burning in her stomach muscles as she adjusted her stance. The new position made his pushes seem a lot weaker, even though they weren’t. 

“Good. Now.” He stalked around her. “If you’re attacked, you don’t wanna launch into it.”

“But how can I defend myself if I don’t prepare for it?” She raised her eyebrows at him.

“I didn’t say not to prepare, I said not to launch. Wait for it. Let your opponent come to you. Use his momentum against him. It’s all about physics.” He took her arm. “In order to punch, or even pounce on me, you need momentum. So what I do is, I divert your force back to you. Like this.” He grabbed her arm in a firm grip and turned it down.

“That’s all?” She looked at him doubtfully.

“Do the math if you don’t believe me.”

Her wheels turned. According to laws of motion and gravity… Her advantage should increase proportionally with her opponent’s mass.

Jack tipped her head up and smirked. “Try it. Attack me. But pay attention to what I do.”

She took a few steps back, then pounced on him. Before she had the chance to lift her arm, she turned over and landed on her back in the grass. Jack softened her fall, but she still flinched at the pain that raced through her back.

He lowered to his knees next to her as she leaned up on her elbow. “See? That’s why I’m not even breaking a sweat. You’re doing all the work for me.”

Sneaky bastard. She got to her feet. “How do you use this line of combat for effective attacks?”

“You don’t.” Jack chuckled and brushed a few strands of grass off her back. “You need a sound defense first, before we can start you on advanced attacks.”

She beamed at him. “Can I try?”

“Sure.” He took a few steps back. “Ready?”

“Yeah. Bring it.” She lifted her chin and straightened. He smirked. A moment later, he started toward her.

She blocked his attack and grabbed his arm the way he’d done before with hers. And then something went wrong. She lost balance, stumbled against him, then nearly hit the ground.

Jack wrapped his arms around her from behind, steadying her. He chuckled into the side of her neck and gave her a little nip that sent a jolt of heat through her. “You did it again. You sacrificed your balance and started into the attack.”

“Sorry,” she panted. “It’s a reflex.” She leaned her head back against his shoulder when he dropped a teasing kiss on her neck. “And frankly, _sir_ , it’s a bit hard to concentrate if my superior officer keeps rasping instructions into my ear and kissing my neck.”

“Carter.” He grinned. “You telling me you have that little self-control?”

She glared at him in a playful challenge. “Okay, try again.” She turned in his arms, and tipped herself up until her lips almost brushed his. Satisfied she noticed the hitch in his breath. “But this time go slow. Really, really slow. So I can lean the move?”

He cleared his throat. “Sure. Slow’s good. And you know I love teaching you moves. Slowly.”

She chortled, then took a step back and adjusted her stance. Bending her knees. Tilting her hips. “Okay, I think I’m ready this time.”

“Looking good.” He nodded with a teasing glint in his eyes.

She cocked her head when his gaze stopped on her ass. “You gonna show me some action, sir?”

He grinned, then started toward her again. She kept her gaze on him, saw how his arm and hand moved to hit her. Evading attacks had become second nature for her, but not reacting at all was unfamiliar. She had to force herself to stay put. Everything inside her screamed to either launch into the attack _before_ he reached her, or evade all together. If she did, she’d end up on her back on the ground again.

He reached her. She gripped his arm and then tilted it down.

She could feel his momentum pass through her and stumbled slightly. _Balance… Stay grounded._ She staggered, but stayed on her feet as Jack landed on his back in the grass.

He groaned and winced. “Yeah. Now you got it.”

She reached a hand out. “You all right?”

“Peachy.” He held his back as he got up. “I think we should invest in a coupla training mats. What do you think?”

She stifled a smile. “Sounds like a reasonable investment, sir. You up for another training fight?”

He smirked and leaned in to her ear. “Alright, but let’s make it interesting. Winner gets to choose tonight’s experiment.”

She laughed. “You know I have no chance against you.”

“Does that mean you give up?”

“No way. Besides, I’m curious to see your experiment. I might learn a new move.”

His eyes sparkled when she took her stance opposite him.

She’d been right. To say she stood no chance against him was putting it mildly. She could swear he gave her a few minor victories on purpose. Then again, she hadn’t expected anything else. Jack was by far the most advanced close combat fighter at camp, outdoing Mitchell and even Sheppard by far.

It wasn’t really a fight. The image of a cat playing with its prey came to her mind. When she finally managed to throw him to the ground, she had no doubt he’d let her get him there on purpose. Laughing, she pinned his hands as she straddled his chest.

“Good grief. What you two are doing isn’t fighting. It’s foreplay.” Sheppard’s voice drifted over.

They both turned their heads. The second-in-command grinned at them, his hands buried in his pockets, a file stacked under his arm.

Sam released Jack and dropped backwards down on the grass, while Sheppard tossed him a bottle of water. Jack drank as he got up, then passed the bottle to her and took the file Sheppard handed him.

“Done with the recruits today.”

“Care to take over while I look at these? Carter needs some more exercise.” Eyes twinkling, Jack grinned at her. 

Sheppard strolled towards her. “I’d love a bit of exercise after watching the rookies all day. Carter? You up to it?”

“Absolutely, sir.” She straightened and lifted her chin. At least Sheppard was a bit closer to her skill level. 

“Getting cocky, isn’t she?” Sheppard said.

“Sure is. You better watch out. She’s getting good, too.”

“I’m sure I can handle her.”

Well, who was cocky now. She tilted her head and glared at him.

Jack grinned. As he passed her by, he leaned in to her ear. “Remember your new move.” He gave her back a gentle smack, then walked off the training ground.

Sam focused her eyes on Sheppard. Boy, was he in for a surprise…

 

***

 

“O’Neill!” Sheppard’s pained groan drifted over.

Jack turned his head. Sheppard lay on the ground with Carter standing above him. _You go, girl._ Hadn’t expected she’d know one of the solo mission defenses now, had he? Smirking, Jack continued his walk up the hill.

His gaze fell on the benches near the food tent. Jacob sat on one of them, his broken leg perched up on a wooden box while his gaze was fixed on the training ground. Jack raised his brows. He hadn’t expected the older man to be out of the medical tent today. Janet’s last report indicated he wasn’t willing to leave the bed yet.

He changed direction and sat down next to his friend. “Jake. It’s good to see you up again.”

“I didn’t want anybody to have to go through the trouble of carrying me around.” Jacob grimaced as he tried to shift. “But your Doctor Fraiser practically threw me out of the medical tent. Said I needed sunlight and fresh air.”

“She’s one of the best doctors in the resistance. She can also turn into a dragon, so you better do as she says.”

“Yeah, I got that feeling.” Jacob gave him a faint smile.

The sunlight seemed to lift his spirits a little. Sam would be glad to see her father out of the medical tent. His situation wasn’t easy, but he needed to embrace life again.

Jack imagined for a moment what he’d do if one day he woke up crippled, paralyzed from the waist down. Unable to continue his fight against the Aschen, after what they did to him. Unable to complete the easiest tasks without help.

“She’s really good.” Jacob’s voice drew him out of his thoughts. He raised his brows. Jacob nodded towards the training ground where Sam and Sheppard were training.

“She is.” He smiled. Quite a way from the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed recruit who’d admired his training session, gotten into fights, and disobeyed orders. Who’d have thought she’d turn out to be one of his most loyal subordinates? And the woman he’d fall for with every fiber of his being. He felt Jacob’s eyes studying him intensely. “What?”

“You two’ve grown quite close.”

He swallowed hard. Damn, Carter still hadn’t told him about their relationship. She’d wanted to do it herself. He shifted. “Jacob, I can’t—”

“Come on, Jack,” Jacob said. “I’m not blind. Besides, it’s no secret at camp you two sleep in the same tent.”

Damn rumors. This was definitely Janet’s doing seeing that Jacob hadn’t left the medical tent since he arrived. He’d have to have a talk with her. “We are.”

“I’m happy you two worked out your differences. And that Sam accepted you as her husband.”

“Actually, we—” Jack flinched. If Sam wanted her father to know about the finer aspects of their relationship, she’d do it herself. “Maybe you should discuss the details with her rather than with me.”

Jacob straightened, curiosity flashing across his face. “I probably should.”

Silence. After a couple of minutes, Jack’s face became serious. “Have you told her?”

“No.” Jacob shook his head. “I haven’t had a chance yet.”

“ _No chance_? She’s been visiting you in the medical tent every day.” Jack frowned at him. “Jake, she deserves to know why you got compromised.”

“I’ll tell her. Eventually. She’s been through a lot recently. I don’t want her to have to deal with more pain.”

Good point. And still… “She’s stronger than you think, you know. You don’t have to protect her. It’ll come out eventually, and it’s better she hears it from you.”

“This will come as a shock to her.”

“Maybe. But this concerns her as much as you. Besides, sooner or later she’ll bring up the question herself. Talk to her, or I’ll tell her.”

Jacob studied him, then his mouth pulled into a smile. “You really love her, don’t you?”

Jack stared at him, his mind blanking for a moment. Then he turned his head and observed Sam on the training area. She landed on the ground, but jumped right back to her feet. Sheppard actually had to put effort into getting through her defense. A hint of pride surged through him. His wife. Smart. Beautiful. Strong-willed. A fighter. “I do.”

“Does she love you?”

“You’d have to ask her.” When Jacob raised his brows at him, Jack shrugged. “We’re taking it slow. Haven’t talked about feelings or anything.”

“I see.” Jacob’s statement sounded more like a question. “Well, the kiddo is old enough to make her own choices. She’s definitely able to defend herself. I didn’t know she was this good.”

In the training area, Sam managed another successful defense and sent Sheppard to the ground.

Jacob sighed then looked at Jack. “I guess now I have to reassess my own position in the resistance, huh?”

“Look, Jacob. You can stay here indefinitely, you know that. Or, if you’d prefer, we can find you an apartment down in McMurdow.”

“And then what? Work as a store clerk or in a factory for the rest of my life?” Jacob’s shoulders slumped. “That’s not a life for me, Jack. I’ve contributed to the fight against the Aschen for most of my life. Especially now, I need to continue.”

“You will. We’ll find a way.” Jack patted his shoulder gently. “Just take it easy for now. Sam’s happy to have you around. She was worried sick about you.”

“I worried about her. The work you do down here? Walking through the gate.”

“It’s less dangerous than most on-world missions.” Jack sighed. “I won’t get into another discussion with you about pulling her from the front lines. It’s her choice. I can’t afford to lose her in the field, nor do I want to. She has my full support.”

“I know.” Jacob nodded. “I shouldn’t even have asked you to last time. Finding her here shocked me. She’s so different from the girl I knew. Good different. I guess it’s hard for me to accept she isn’t the little girl that needs my protection anymore.”

“I’m keeping her as safe as I can. Just as I do with anybody else in this camp.” Speaking of which… He looked down at the file Sheppard had handed him. The new recruits. Chaotic and a mess. Just like every batch of recruits was in the beginning. He opened the folder and studied the papers.

Thomson. Young, headstrong, excelled when he was working on his own. He’d be an ideal candidate for solo missions.

Jennifer Keller. A bit hesitant and shy. Not a good fighter, either. But according to Janet, she made an excellent doctor. Since she was only scheduled for basic field and survival training, he was willing to cut her some slack. Plus, since she’d be remaining in Cell 4, he would schedule Daniel to brief her in detail about the Stargate as soon as her background checks came in clear. If she was working in the medical tent, it’d be better if she knew what was going on.

Piper. Only a few years younger than Sheppard. Severe problems adjusting to the command structure. No sense of loyalty. He liked to go around orders the sneaky way. Always pinned his mistakes on others. Jack narrowed his eyes. He didn’t want someone like that under his command, nor in any other cell.

Connor. Good at close combat. Average at best in field training, survival and strategy. Definitely not suited for Stargate missions, but he’d make a good addition to a cell engaged in on-world activities.

He looked up when voices drifted over and grew louder. Sheppard and Carter trudged towards them.

Upon seeing her dad, Sam’s face lit up. “Dad. You’re up.” She leaned down and kissed him on the forehead.

“Hey, kiddo. Who won?”

“Colonel Sheppard did.” She sounded remorseful. Jack smirked. Yep, definitely strong-willed.

“Yeah, but she made me work for it.” Sheppard sat down next to Jack and grabbed his towel lying on the table.

“I’m glad you’re out of bed.” Sam took Jacob’s hand. “How are you feeling, dad?”

“Good, actually.” He gave her a forced smile. “Doctor Fraiser said I’m as good as I’ll get. Physically.”

Pain flashed across her face. Her eyes locked with Jack’s briefly, then she stroked her father’s arm. “You’re alive, dad. That’s all that matters. The Aschen nearly killed you.”

“They did a few times.” The older man closed his eyes.

“Dad.” Sam swallowed visibly, her face pained. Jacob hadn’t told anybody what he’d been through, but Jack could only imagine. The hints he gave were enough. And besides, he’d seen the dark cell Jacob had been locked in. He himself had been in an Aschen torture chamber before. 

Jacob sighed. “I’ll be fine, kid. So, when’s your next mission scheduled?”

“Um.” Sam looked at Jack.

He nodded. “He has clearance.”

“Tomorrow.” Her eyes sparkled.

“Searching for technology again? I really wanna see that ancient structure at some point.”

Sam’s face brightened. “I’m sure we can arrange that. Tomorrow we’re scheduled for another one of the planets that held a Tok’ra base in the alternate universe we visited.”

“Ah.” Jacob nodded. “Giving it another try?”

Jack sighed. “The geeks won’t let it go.”

“Well, sir, just because twelve planets turned out to be a dead end so far doesn’t mean all of them will be. Most of them are gate addresses we didn’t know anything about before. Every inscription we find helps Daniel translate more of the Ancient or Goa’uld languages.”

He gave her a blank look. “My bet is it’ll be another boring day.”

She cocked her head. “There is a chance we’ll find the Tok’ra on one of the planets.”

“Assuming they exist at all in our universe,” he said. “I’ll stick with a boring day. And by that, I mean nothing to do except counting bugs. Or sand. And watching you and Daniel run around and get all excited over some kind of rocks.”

“We could run into an inhabited planet again. Remember the mission to P85-3X1?” Her eyes gleamed.

He chuckled. “Alright, that was a fun one, I’ll give you that.”

Jacob looked from him to Sam. “I don’t think I’ve read that report.”

“We decided we’d better not keep record of that, for the sake of Carter’s reputation. It didn’t hold any value for the resistance.” Jack chuckled.

Sam folded her arms and frowned at him. “ _My_ reputation? It wasn’t my idea, sir.”

“Fine, Daniel and Carter,” he conceded, still grinning.

When Jacob raised his eyebrows, Sam sighed. “The inhabitants didn’t speak our language, so Daniel suggested we communicate through body language. To show them we’re friendly. So we, um, participated in their cultural habits.”

“That ya did.” Jack cleared his throat when she glared at him. Uh oh. Yeah, she probably still held it against him that he hadn’t stopped the fun at an appropriate time. “They got drunk. Very drunk.”

“Well, they offered us drinks. We thought it was a friendly gesture.” She shrugged. “It tasted like water, but apparently it contained a very strong hallucinogenic substance. As Daniel found out later, the inhabitants of the planet used it for religious vision quests. They thought we were sent by the Gods to accompany them on their quest.”

“And that’s why I told you to be careful about touching it,” Jack deadpanned.

“Daniel thought it would help build their trust.”

“Yeah.” Jack gave a wry laugh, then looked at Jacob. “I put a stop to it when Daniel, completely drunk, came up with the idea to dress like them. For the record, they were naked.”

Sam swallowed visibly. “But we did learn a lot of interesting things about their culture. We brought back that plant to help Janet synthesize the new sleeping aid. And it was a fun mission—until things went South.”

“I’m not debating you on this. It was _very_ entertaining.” Jack smirked. “Still, I’d prefer we finally find those Tok’ra.”

“Maybe tomorrow we’ll get lucky.” She tangled her hand in her gorgeously tousled hair. “I think I’ll hit the shower and then get on preparing the experiment I got scheduled with Felger.”

Jack straightened. “I think Jacob wanted to talk to you about something first. Right?”

Jacob cleared his throat and took his daughter’s hand. “Um yeah. Sweetheart, sit down for a moment?”

“What’s going on, dad?”

Jack got up from the bench. “Come on, Sheppard. Let’s talk over the recruit performance reports in my command tent.”

 

***

 

Sam held her breath. A cold fist wrapped around her heart and turned her insides to ice. “That has to be a mistake, dad. She’d never…”

“I’m sorry, sweetie. I’m afraid so. Jack brought back proof, and he questioned her. She admitted it.” Jacob squeezed her hands.

“But… Minny? She raised me after mom died, dad. She’s been with us for over twelve years. How could she do that?” Her mind spun. Minny had given Aschen Justice the information about her dad’s involvement in the resistance. Because of her, Aschen Justice had arrested and tortured him. Sweet old Minny.

“It wasn’t her fault, kiddo. She and her husband were about to lose their farm. She traded the information in for five more years on the property.” Jacob released a sigh.

“But why didn’t she talk to you? We always helped them when they got into trouble.” Sam fisted her hands. “Look at you. The Aschen could’ve killed you. She knew that. She traded your life in for a stupid farm?”

“It’s not that simple.” Jacob shook his head. “The Aschen Farming Department has threatened to take their farm away and relocate them to a senior home for quite a while. She was desperate. Besides, I was a fool to confide in her. It was a rookie mistake. I just…” Another sigh. “At the time, I figured it would be easiest to tell her the truth. After all you'd disappeared for over a year, and she knew I was searching for you. Simply telling her you got married didn't cover it.”

“You told her about the resistance?” Sam closed her eyes. The first and foremost rule drilled into every recruit: don’t tell anybody about your involvement with the organization. He’d acted against it. “Is that why they didn’t go after Mark, John or David?”

Jacob raised his brows at her.

Sam leaned back. “I asked Jack a few days ago if there was any way we could get my brothers to safety. He told me they weren’t in danger, but didn’t tell me how he knew.”

“Yeah. I told her, you were the only one involved, and that’s apparently what she reported back to Aschen Justice. She seemed so happy to get to see you again. I’d have never thought she’d…” He closed his eyes. “She didn’t have another choice.”

No choice? Sam shook her head. Sweet, kind Minny. She’d become a traitor, a collaborator. “There’s always a choice, dad.”

Jacob sighed. “What’s done is done.”

“No.” She jumped up. “Everybody has a choice. You, me, Jack, Rodney, Sheppard, all the others here. We were all faced with the choice of which side we wanted to fight on. She chose wrong, and she sacrificed you in the process. She chose the Aschen over her own kind.”

Jaw clenched, she started pacing. Minny had ratted them out. Sure, even when she’d still lived with her father, Minny had always been somewhat sensitive to talk that didn’t propagate the Aschen. But that she’d turn into a collaborator…

Rage flooded her. At the Aschen. At Minny, who’d so coldly betrayed her father. She fisted her hands. Someday they’d drive them off Earth one by one. Someday.


	40. Alliance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> This version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).
> 
>  
> 
> Now you can also find an ebook version of this story on my website, including lots of bonus material as well as the first publication version of Stargate Aschen. (Click image to download.)  
> 
> 
>   
>  [](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-free-stargate-sg-1-ebook/)   
>    
> 

Two suns burned down from a cloudless sky onto the endless sandy surface of the planet. Sam shifted further into the shadow of the palm tree and scratched her arm. After almost two hours of walking, she’d have to be careful not to end up with a severe sunburn.

Sounds of water splashing drifted from behind her. Daniel worked close to the clear pond that marked the center of the oasis. A few old ruins with inscriptions lined the water’s edge. As usual he was completely immersed in his studies.

Sighing, she dropped the monitor onto her knees. Somehow, she just couldn’t get into the exploratory mindset today. There were no shifts in the magnetic field, no energy signatures. No unusual radiation signaling any kind of advanced technology on this planet. Of course, she hadn’t searched the entire oasis yet. She should probably do that.

She released another sigh and looked around. Jack came trudging towards her, his eyebrows perched up and a lopsided smirk pulling at his lips. “How’s the measurements going?”

“Oh they’re…” She looked down at the display. “…fascinating.”

“You sure?”

She raised her eyebrows. “Yeah, why?”

“I never thought I’d hear myself utter these words. You look bored.” He dropped down to sit in the sand next to her. “And you’ve been taking measurements of the same rock for five minutes.”

She had? She swallowed and shifted. “I… It must be the heat, sir. Makes it difficult to focus.” Her fingers tapped a few buttons on the screen before she took another half-hearted measurement. This time she made sure to choose another target.

“Carter. What’s going on?” He studied her as he leaned back against the palm tree.

“Nothing.” The display blinked. No radiation, no abnormal energy residues. Nothing that indicated any form of life or technology on the planet. She put the tablet on her backpack in resignation. No more measurements. There was nothing on this damn planet anyway.

“Sam.” His gentle tone made her turn her head. “Normally you’d be right next to Daniel in that pond, confusing me with useless information about those inscriptions. Something’s wrong. Spill it.”

She released a long breath and looked at the line of palm trees marking the end of the oasis. “It’s not important.”

“Looks like it is.” He leaned forward. “Let me have your back, remember?”

She lifted her eyes and their gazes met. “It’s just… I can’t forget about Minny.” Of all the people she’d known before she joined the resistance, Minny would’ve been the last person she’d expected to side with the Aschen. “I know, I haven’t seen her for over a year but she was like a mother to me. I’d have never thought she’d betray us.”

He pulled his sunglasses down, his face serious.

Sam pressed her lips together and ran her hand through her hair to brush some of the sand out. “I know I should just forget about it. It’s done and I can’t change what happened, but… If I couldn’t trust her, who can I trust?” She fidgeted, and then started packing up her stuff to shed her unease. “I mean, you said there were moles even in our cell occasionally. Is it actually wise to trust anybody?” She gave a bitter laugh. “You’re gonna tell me I’m overthinking again, aren’t you?”

“I won’t.” He touched her arm.

She studied him. “Have you ever trusted the wrong person before?”

“You kidding me?” Groaning, he stretched his legs. “I once pillow-talked my identity out to a woman who pretended she wanted to join the resistance. She ratted me out to the next Aschen Justice station, and the entire operation got compromised.”

She stared at him. Somehow the idea of him with another woman didn’t make her feel any better.

Apparently she’d failed to mask her feelings because he cleared his throat. “It was a long time ago during my first month doing solo missions.”

“Ah.” She relaxed.

“I think it happens to everyone at some point.”

“How did you deal with it?”

He leaned back, resting his P-90 on the ground next to him. “Not very well. I didn’t trust anyone for months. That kinda attitude worked well on solo missions. Took some adjustment when I started working in a cell relying on teamwork again, though.”

Not trusting anyone… That seemed to fit the constant suspicion she’d felt since yesterday. She’d studied every one of the new recruits carefully, always wondering whether they might secretly report to the Aschen. Or if would betray them at some point in the future. Maybe even some of the regulars at camp would…

“I think I can relate to that. I misjudged Minny. If I can’t rely on my judgment, how do I know whom to trust?”

Jack’s face gentled. “You can trust me. And Daniel. Sheppard. Vala. Janet. All permanent members of Cell 4.”

She chewed her lower lip and sighed. “Do you know that for sure? I mean, with all the new recruits… You deal with them all the time. How did you develop a sense of who you can trust?”

He sat up straight. “Hunches. Comes with experience, I guess. Sometimes they work out, sometimes they don’t. When they don’t, we have security protocols to rely on. Whenever you take on someone new there’s always the danger they’ll betray you.”

She gave him a weak smile. “Did you think I’d betray you when you met me?”

His eyes gleamed. “I considered it. Especially after you sneaked out of camp with Vala that one night. I was damn close to throwing you out. But again, I had a hunch.”

“Why? I could have been a spy.”

“Yeah.” His eyes gleamed. “But endangering your mission to get drunk with the camp’s trickster isn’t really a smart move I’d attribute to an Aschen spy.”

She chuckled and leaned back to stretch her legs out. How did he always managed to make her smile at times like these? She gave his arm a gentle squeeze.

Jack drew her close, and dropped a warm kiss against her temple. “Sam, if we had a spy among the permanent members of Cell 4, the Aschen would already be aware of the Stargate program. They would’ve shut the whole thing down.”

Good point. Very reasonable and logical. She lifted her head. Everything always sounded so simple with him.

“Every single one of the permanent members of Cell 4 has my absolute, unconditional trust. That includes you.” He squeezed her shoulder. “You gotta be suspicious, but you also have to remember whom to trust.”

“I trust you.” She leaned back against the palm tree when a breeze tousled her hair. Warm wind, but it still cooled her overheated skin.

“Good.” Jack smiled at her. “What happened to Jacob was an isolated incident. It’s far from an everyday occurrence.”

“Yeah.” Some of the tightness in her chest abated as the veil of suspicion began to lift. “I know that.”

“The way I see it, for every person who betrays us, we have at least thirty behind us having our backs.” He ran his hand up and down her arm, his touch soothing.

She turned to face him. His eyes shimmered coffee brown in the planet’s bright light. He smiled and the soft creases lining his eyes deepened. The grey hair at his temples looked almost white whenever a beam of sunlight made it through the swaying leaves of the palm trees.

Warmth spread through her. He was so used to all the darkness that came with resistance work, and yet, behind his tough, relentless façade, he’d somehow preserved a deeply rooted empathy. As a great sense of humor.

She cupped his face with her hand and leaned in until her nose brushed his. “I lo—”

An outcry drifted over, then a loud splash followed by a curse. She snapped her head around while Jack sat up straight, his muscles tensing under her fingers. Daniel sat in the middle of the pond, wiping his palm across his face and pushing his hair out of his eyes. Papers floated on the water’s surface around him.

“Taking a bath, Danny-boy?” Jack’s muscles relaxed under her hands.

Muttering something that Sam didn’t understand, Daniel started collecting his soaked papers.

“We should probably help him.”

“Yeah.” Sighing, Jack straightened. “Didn’t I tell him to stay away from those slippery rocks earlier?”

Sam stifled a smile. The hint of a smirk on his face betrayed his amusement.

Daniel waded out of the pond and sat down on one of the larger rocks at its edge where he wrung out his shirt and pants. Then he reached for his backpack.

Jack put his sunglasses back on. “Alright, kids. As soon as Daniel’s changed into dry clothes, we’re gonna head back to the Stargate. During the past hours, I’ve seen nothing even remotely close to technology. Or Tok’ra. Or any kinda life.”

Sam released a breath. Thank God. She wasn’t usually keen on cutting missions short, but this time she had to agree with him. There was nothing on this planet. And as Daniel had said, even the inscriptions were of little value to them. Only curiosity had driven the archeologist to copy them.

In the spirit of good will, Jack had granted him a few hours of exploration time to satisfy his curiosity, since they’d just missed their Stargate window anyway. More important projects waited for her back at camp.

Jack turned. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Grinning, she followed him. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“Little bit, yeah.”

His admission made her beam at him. She hurried over to pack up her things, and then shouldered her backpack. Another three hours and they’d be back home.

 

***

 

Sand. Sand. Sand wherever she looked. It stretched out ahead of them in an endless landscape of dunes and valleys. Crept into her shoes and clothes, and the wind even carried it into her hair. Sam shielded her eyes against the sun and sighed. The first thing she’d do when they were home was take a shower. Or even better, a swim in the lake. That’d be refreshing after the heat here.

“Alright, one more klick over that dune and we should be at the gate.” Jack pulled the cap off his head and scratched through his hair before putting it back on.

“I still don’t understand why we can’t take the jumper off-world.”

“Because, Daniel.” His tone indicated he wasn’t willing to discuss the subject.

“Great reasoning.” The archeologist gave him a sarcastic frown.

“For starters I don’t wanna put up with constant fights about which team gets to use the jumper on their mission.”

“That wouldn’t really be an issue though, would it?” Daniel stuck his hands in his pockets. “After all, only you and Sheppard can fly it.”

“That makes it worse.”

“But… just think of how much faster we’d get everywhere. We’d have so much more time for actual scientific study.”

Jack frowned at him, then gave him a sarcastic nod. “Yeah.”

Sam lowered her head and hid a smile. No doubt, part of him didn’t want to lengthen the time he’d spend being bored. At least walking around gave him something to do. As much as she’d love to have the jumper available off world, he had a point.

Once they started giving select SG teams an advantage over others, animosities might ensue. As long as she’d been at camp, he and Sheppard had always emphasized a feeling of equality. The same rules applied to everyone, regardless of rank. Whether it concerned food rations, shower time or mission reports, there were no exceptions. Not even for Sheppard or him, even though they were the ones making the rules. It was why people at camp respected them.

“Jack, even you have to admit that cutting travel time down to do actual work would be worth the—”

“And what if we lose the jumper?”

Uh oh. She flinched. Jack’s tone conveyed he was losing patience.

“The jumper’s our most valuable piece of technology. We need it on Earth. I don’t wanna risk losing it on an off-world mission for no other reason than convenience.”

Sam turned her head. “He’s right, Daniel. Besides, we haven’t even begun understanding the technology. I wouldn’t be comfortable having anybody fly the jumper on an off world mission when we don’t have full control over all its functions yet. The risks outweigh the benefits.”

“Thank you,” Jack said. “Can we please stop arguing about that now?”

Her scientific arguments seemed to convince Daniel, because he conceded with a deep sigh.

Jack stretched. “You know, I think I’ll assign the next coupla Tok’ra missions to SG-2. Let Sheppard deal with these damn, sandy, sunny—”

When he cut off in the middle of the sentence, Sam looked up. He’d stopped walking. Out of instinct, she stopped as well and followed his example as he crouched down.

“Jack?” Daniel’s whisper drifted over from her left.

“Shhh.” Jack motioned forward. Over the top of the dune, the Stargate rose in the distance. And close to the gate…

Sam took a sharp breath. Three men. If she didn’t know where to look, she’d have almost missed them. With their beige clothing, they almost disappeared into the sandy background.

She crouched closer to Jack. “Where did they come from?”

“Not sure. Seems like they’re heading for the gate.” He laid on his stomach in the sand, and checked his watch. Then he flinched.

She glanced down. Almost time for their Stargate window.

“We might have to take a little detour to the beta site.”

Another six hours on the beta site? Well, at least this month they’d chosen a planet with hot springs close to the gate. She’d be able to take a warm bath and lose the sand. Her spirits lifted.

On the Stargate, the first chevrons began to light up.

“They’re not dialing the gate, sir.” She pulled her field glass out from the side pocket of her mission pack. “It’s an incoming wormhole.”

“I see that.”

The event horizon splashed open, and seconds later somebody stepped through. Sam tensed. A Jaffa warrior. “Ugh, that’s not good, sir.” She handed her field glass over to him.

He lifted it to his eyes, then released a low grown. “Oh, swell.”

“What?” Daniel looked from Sam to Jack. “What’s going on?”

“A Jaffa,” Jack muttered.

“Just one?” Daniel raised his eyebrows.

“Looks like it.”

“That’s odd.” The archeologist scratched his head.

Sam frowned.

“Well, usually Jaffa warriors move in troops. Or are accompanied by the Goa’uld system lord they serve. That one’s by himself.”

Jack glowered at him. “What does it matter? They’re blocking the gate.”

_\--Click—_

Sam froze when she heard the all too familiar sound of a zat’nik’tel snapping open behind her.

“Hands up and turn around. Slowly.” The deep, resonant voice behind them sent goose bumps down her spine. A Goa’uld.

The three of them turned. Two men dressed in beige uniforms stood behind them, eyeing them with a dark expression. “Who are you?”

“I was just gonna ask you the same question.” Jack narrowed his eyes at them.

“Who we are is of no importance to this conversation.”

“Oh, I disagree.” Jack said, lowering his arms.

The two men stared at each other for a moment. Then one of them stepped forward. “What are you doing on our planet?”

Daniel cleared his throat. “We didn’t know this was your planet. See, we’ve been here for almost a day, studying some of the ruins at the oasis. If we’d known this planet is occupied, we wouldn’t have intruded like this.”

“I see.” Still no sign the men intended to lower the zat-guns.

Jack shifted. “We were just gonna return through the Stargate to our homeworld. But your friends there are kinda blocking our way.”

The two men exchanged glances. “Get up. You will come with us.”

“Oh, I don’t think so.” Jack gave a sarcastic chuckle.

Sam swallowed hard. The men didn’t look they’d tolerate resistance. Nor did they look open to jokes. She mentally prepared herself for being shot with the zat’nik’tel at any moment, when Daniel lifted his hands.

“Jack?”

“Daniel?”

“Maybe we should do what they want. For now.”

“Daniel, I won’t—”

“Jack, what good is it gonna do if they shoot us?” Daniel frowned at him, and for once Jack seemed to agree. Visibly reluctant, he raised his hands, then nodded at Sam to do the same.

They straightened, and then walked in the direction the men indicated, towards the Stargate and the Jaffa warrior. A knot formed in her stomach. Hopefully this wasn’t another one of Ba’al’s planets.

When they reached the Stargate, the small group of men gathered there turned around.

The Jaffa’s face darkened. “What is the meaning of this?”

“We found them behind that dune over there, spying on you,” the man pushing Jack said.

Jack cleared his throat. “We weren’t spying on anybody. We took cover.”

The men exchanged glances, visibly concerned. Then an older man turned and clipped his zat’nik’tel to his belt. “We have no choice but to take them with us. At least until we’re done here.”

“Wait a minute.” Jack pulled his arm away when the man next to him wanted to grab him again. “Why don’t you tell us what’s going on here? All we want is to return home through the Stargate.”

“The Stargate?” The older man scrunched his brows.

Daniel pushed his glasses up on his nose. “The Chappa’ai?”

“Ah.” The man nodded. “First you will answer some of our questions. Don’t resist, or I’ll order my men to shoot you.”

 

***

 

“Well, that worked out great.” Jack dropped down on a stone bench set into the wall of their prison cell. So much for Daniel’s ingenious idea of surrendering. “Anybody got an idea how we’re gonna get outta here?”

Sighing, Carter sat down next to him and leaned back against the wall. “Not at the moment, sir.”

“Well, I think we should maybe ask what they want first.” Daniel pulled his hat off and rubbed his forehead.

Jack frowned at him. “They’re Goa’uld. What do you think they want?”

Carter tensed. “You think they want to turn us into hosts?”

“I’d say it’s a vague possibility.”

“I’m not so sure they’re Goa’uld.” Daniel leaned against the wall and looked around.

Jack sat up straight. “Didn’t you see the glowing eyes? Or hear this whole voice thing they got going?” How much more obvious did they have to be?

“Yeah, but look around. This isn’t your typical Goa’uld mothership.” Daniel tapped the wall with his hand. “This is some kind of mineral stone or crystal. My bet is we’re underground.”

“So? But? Therefore? Ergo?” He pulled the cap off his head and scratched through his hair, ignoring when Daniel rolled his eyes and released an exasperated sigh.

“They have no slaves. They have different accommodations. Has it occurred to anyone these might be Tok’ra?”

“That’s a little far-fetched, don’t ya—”

“No, sir, he might be right.” Carter’s voice cut him off, and he turned his head with raised eyebrows. “Well, sir, these people match the description of the Tok’ra in the files we brought back through the quantum mirror.”

“They do? Didn’t it say in the files the Tok’ra didn’t use Jaffa? And that they weren’t hostile? We’re in a cell, so I’d call that pretty hostile.”

“Not necessarily.” She turned to face him. “If a stranger showed up at camp, we’d imprison them too to make sure they weren’t spies.”

“Yeah, well, that’s different.”

“Is it? If they’re the resistance against the Goa’uld, wouldn’t they likely also have security protocols?” She looked at him through those beautiful blue eyes.

He remained motionless for a moment. What she said did make sense. Except… “How do you explain the Jaffa?”

“Well…” Daniel pushed himself away from the wall. “So far we’ve seen only one.”

What was it with him and his fixation on numbers? “There might be more.”

“Sir, I think Daniel’s right. If there were more Jaffa, we would have seen them.”

“Yeah, well, that still doesn’t help us solve the problem of getting outta here, does it?”

“Why don’t we try talking to them?” Daniel asked.

“Sure, let’s talk to ‘em. Ask ‘em politely if they’ll let us go without turning us into hosts.”

Next to him, Carter lowered her head, but he caught sight of her smile. His mood lightened up instantly.

“Okay.” Daniel folded his arms with a frown. “We’ll use your method. Let’s shoot them all down with our P-90s and the zat-gun. Oh, wait… That’s right, they took those from us.”

“So what? We’ll just—”

“Guys.” Carter straightened next to him, and Jack followed her gaze.

The Jaffa they’d seen earlier entered the room. He looked over them, eyes dark, with a dangerous sparkle in them. The corners of his mouth turned down.

Jack got up and cleared his throat as he took a step towards him. “Hi. We were just talking about you. As a matter of fact, Daniel here suggested we’d—”

“What is your purpose here on this planet? Were you sent to spy on us?”

“Oh, for cryin’ out loud.” What was it with everybody thinking they were spies recently? “We’re not spying on anybody. We were looking at some of the ruins in the desert.”

The Jaffa’s expression didn’t change. Jack looked at Daniel, then waved at the Jaffa with a nod. “Try your luck.”

As though talking this out would solve anything. At the moment they were out of options, though.

Daniel stepped forward. “We’re from an Aschen occupied planet, and we’re looking for allies in our fight against the Aschen—and the Goa’uld.”

Okay, not that much talking. “Daniel.”

“Jack, trust me on this.” Daniel looked at him and pushed his glasses further up on his nose. “I have a hunch.” Without waiting for Jack’s answer, he turned back to the Jaffa. “We had intel we might find a group called the Tok’ra on this planet.”

At the word Tok’ra, the Jaffa’s face seemed to darken even further. Uh oh.

The Jaffa stepped closer. “From whom did you acquire such intel?”

Jack cleared his throat. “Funny story, actually. See, we found a device called a quantum mirror, which sent us to an alternate dimension and—”

“An alternate universe, sir,” Carter interrupted from his left.

Jack raised his eyebrows at her. “What’s the difference?”

“Well, sir, scientifically speaking, it’s a big difference. When you say alternate dimension, it implies that we somehow changed from our three-dimensional world into one of the other ones. We didn’t change dimensions, because otherwise we’d—“

“Carter.” He should know better by now than to ask her questions like that.

She had to have seen the annoyance on his face, because she swallowed visibly. “Sorry, sir. It’s a difference.”

“Fine, alternate universe, then.” He turned back to the Jaffa. “The point is, we met other versions of us who told us that in their dimen—reality, there was a group called the Tok’ra. They gave us coordinates of about sixty planets the Tok’ra’d been on in their universe. We thought we’d give it a try.”

The Jaffa raised one of his eyebrows. Jack wasn’t sure whether he believed him. Maybe he just contemplated whether to shoot them with the zat-gun or the staff weapon. How could anybody have such an emotionless face?

“So you are working for the Aschen.”

“No we aren’t working for—did he hear what I just said?” He turned to Daniel and gave him a frustrated nod. Maybe Daniel’d be better at dealing with this. He himself apparently lacked the conversational skills needed.

The archeologist cleared his throat. “We’re not working for the Aschen—or with them. We’re from a resistance. A human resistance. We fight the Aschen, and we came here hoping to find allies among the Tok’ra resistance.”

“The Tok’ra are a myth from Jaffa legends. They do not exist.” The Jaffa frowned at Daniel, then his gaze wandered over to Jack again.

Jack clapped his hands together, and nodded. “All right then. How about giving back our guns and letting us go? Ya know, you never saw us, that kinda deal.”

“I cannot do that.”

“Yeah. I was afraid you’d say that.” He sighed. “Listen. We’d make bad hosts. Horrible ones.”

“I am not seeking for hosts.”

“Now that’s a bit hard to believe, given you arrested us, are holding us here, took our—“ Jack cut himself off, when a woman entered the room behind the Jaffa. Tall, with long chestnut hair and hazel eyes. Probably around Jacob’s age, but then again he’d never been good with estimating women’s ages.

“You are seeking an alliance with the Tok’ra?” She came to stand next to the Jaffa, first scanning Daniel, then Jack, then Sam. “Assuming the Tok’ra existed, what could you possibly offer them? Legends say they are enemies of the Goa’uld, not the Aschen.”

Jack shrugged. “Yeah, well, since we’re obviously at the wrong place—“

“Jack.” Daniel placed his hand on Jack’s arm and stepped forward, his gaze fixating on the woman. “Even though the Tok’ra wouldn’t be enemies of the Aschen, an alliance with a resistance against them could benefit both groups. We have contacts within the Aschen government. We could gain and place information if necessary. The Aschen and the Goa’uld are enemies. Playing them against each other would be a very reasonable way of weakening both, with minimal resources on our part.”

The woman stepped closer and studied him, her expression thoughtful. Then her eyes flared up. “We _are_ Goa’uld.”

“Daniel.” Jack grabbed his arm to pull him back. The woman didn’t look exactly friendly anymore, and the glowing eyes thing worried him.

Daniel brushed his hand away, apparently unimpressed. “Now, see, I don’t think you are. I think you are the Tok’ra. This place, your behavior, and this whole conversation—it’s all very non-Goa’uld.”

“You seem to know a lot about Goa’uld.” The woman circled him.

“We had a few run-ins. Our most recent one was with Ba’al, who took us on his ship. So we have firsthand experience of what Goa’uld ships look like.”

The woman stopped and looked from Daniel to Jack, her gaze piercing. “You are the humans who were caught by Ba’al and escaped?”

That sounded like a rhetorical question. “You’ve heard of us. Who’da thought.”

The woman faced the wall for a moment, before she turned and lifted her chin. “I am Selmak of the Tok’ra.”

Jack stared at her. Well, that was a surprise. “Jack O’Neill. That’s Sam Carter… and the guy who can’t seem to shut up is Daniel Jackson.” He narrowed his eyes. “Why the sudden change of heart?”

The Tok’ra woman straightened. “I revealed my identity because it was pointless to pretend to be Goa’uld any longer. My original argument still stands. The Tok’ra do not fight against the Aschen. Nor do we see how a human resistance could be of any value against the Goa’uld.” She strolled towards Sam and studied her. “We have fought against the Goa’uld for over two thousand years, and we rarely make alliances.”

“Well, maybe you should consider it. I mean, two thousand years? Doesn’t seem like you got much done in all that time.” When Selmak turned her head and frowned at him, Jack flinched. Maybe not wise to insult them—even though it was true. “Just saying. Besides, I thought you weren’t like the Goa’uld.”

“We are not.”

“Okay.” Jack nodded and glanced at the Jaffa, now standing to the right behind the Tok’ra woman, as if to protect her if necessary. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t you a Jaffa?”

“Indeed.” The Jaffa nodded with a slow bow of his head.

“Now, see, the Goa’uld use Jaffa. So do you apparently. How exactly—”

“He is not here as a Jaffa. This one joined our rebellion a while ago, and serves as our contact to several groups of rebel Jaffa.” Selmak folded her arms.

Daniel cleared his throat. “You’re telling us all that, and yet you’re not willing to form an alliance with us. That means you probably won’t let us go again, will you?”

Jack snapped his head around to Daniel, then stared at the Tok’ra woman. Selmak closed her eyes and lowered her head. When she looked back up, her expression had changed. He couldn’t pinpoint how, but a smile played around her mouth, her posture was different, and she seemed to become more open.

“You have to excuse my symbiote. I am Kenut. Selmak thought you might be a bit less intimidated talking to me.” She brushed a strand of her long hair behind her ear. “Please rest assured no harm will come to you. At the moment we are searching for a suitable new planet to form a permanent base. Security is a bit of an issue, so we have to be cautious.”

Jack stared at her. “Didn’t you say your name was Selmak?”

She smiled. “My symbiote’s name is Selmak. I am Kenut.”

“You lost me.” Jack placed his hand at his temple and looked at Daniel. “Does that make any sense to you?”

“Actually.” Daniel nodded. “According to the reports, biologically the Tok’ra are very similar to the Goa’uld. Both are parasitic lifeforms who need to take hosts to survive. But instead of forcing themselves onto their hosts like the Goa’uld do, the Tok’ra live in harmony with the human they choose.”

“Ah.” Jack nodded and turned back to the woman. To him snake was snake, but Daniel sounded serious enough in his explanation, so he was willing to give the woman the benefit of a doubt. “I can assure you we won’t compromise your security. We’re enemies of the Goa’uld, just as you are. We were hoping we might trade technology and intel.”

“The Tok’ra don’t share their technology, Jack O’Neill.” Kenut folded her arms again. “And we do not trust intel we haven’t obtained ourselves.”

He released a breath. Their reluctance to take them seriously was beginning to get on his nerves. And he’d always thought Earth’s resistance was the most paranoid one.

“Well.” Daniel straightened. “There has to be something you need that we can provide you with. Food, clothes—”

“We need hosts.” The change in tone back to deep and resonant made Jack look up. The snake-half of the woman was back.

“Yeah, well, that’s not gonna happen.” He frowned at Daniel. “Told you that’s what it’d come down to.”

Selmak cleared her throat. “We will not force you to become hosts.”

Jack narrowed his eyes. “How comforting. You gotta excuse us for not taking your word for it.”

“I do not understand your hostility. You say you want to form an alliance, but how can we trust you when you obviously despise us so much?” Selmak’s voice carried a hint of anger. Or hurt. He wasn’t sure.

Jack held her gaze. “You say the whole snake in the head thing is voluntary for you. But it’s a bit hard for me to understand that anybody would volunteer to...” He cleared his throat, searching for an appropriate word, then waved at her. “…that.”

Daniel rolled his eyes at him, then glanced back at the Tok’ra. “Look, maybe if you could help us understand you better. Up to now, the Goa’uld we ran into tried to force us into becoming hosts. How are you different?”

Selmak nodded. “I see. Biologically, a Tok’ra symbiote offers its host the same benefits as a Goa’uld symbiote. We can more than double the host’s lifespan, cure a wide range of diseases and medical problems, and the host will gain more than a dozen lifespans of memories and knowledge. It can be an enlightening experience. In return, we only ask the human to share their body with us and commit their lives to the fight against the Goa’uld.”

“Okay, well…” Daniel scratched his head. “Hosts can’t be the only thing you need. What about weapons?”

“Most of the Tok’ra operate from within, so alien weapons would not be of much use to us.”

“What about a planet? You said you were looking for one.”

“We are. During the past months, the system lords Ba’al and Apophis have uncovered our hiding places repeatedly. We’re searching for a planet to rebuild basic operations.”

Daniel straightened. “What about our planet?”

“Whoa.” Jack turned to him. “Daniel.”

“Jack, think about it. They need a planet and we have more than enough space. They could rebuild their underground structure in Antarctica, and we could share the gate. We don’t use every Stargate window.”

“Daniel, we know nothing about these people. And I won’t compromise our base on Earth like that.” Jack glowered at him. “It’s out of the question.”

“But Jack, we could learn from them. They could help us with the Goa’uld artifacts we found. Maybe they could even provide us with zat-guns.”

“ _Zat guns_?” Selmak’s face reflecting confusion.

“Zat’nik’tels.” Carter gave her a cautious smile.

Selmak’s face lit up. “Ah. Yes, we have more than enough of those. But an Aschen planet is of no value to us as a hiding place. We are not interested in an alliance with the Aschen.”

Daniel ignored Jack and turned back to the Tok’ra. “We’re not with the Aschen. See, there are two Stargates on our planet. One of them is operated by the Aschen. Our group found the second one over one hundred and fifty years ago. The Aschen don’t know about it.”

“That is not possible.” Selmak stared at him for a moment. “There is only one Stargate on every planet.”

“Yeah, well… apparently our planet’s an exception.” Jack didn’t bother to mask the sarcasm in his voice. Offering their planet to these people? What the hell was Daniel thinking? Was he losing what was left of his mind?

Selmak studied him. “What is the name of your world?”

Before Jack could answer her question with a sarcastic refusal to disclose the name, Daniel blurted out, “Earth.”

What…? Jack rounded on him. They would have to have a serious talk about security procedures once they were back at camp.

“I have not heard of a world like that. But there is one world that, according to legend, has two Stargates. It is Tau’ri, the first planet where all humans originated.” Selmak studied Daniel, then Sam and Jack. “Is it possible that your ancestors stole the second Stargate from another world?”

Carter cleared her throat. “With all due respect, I don’t think so. When the Aschen arrived on our world, our race was still in its beginnings. We didn’t have knowledge of technology back then. The second Stargate was uncovered after the ice of our poles melted. It had to have been there for tens of thousands of years before our group found it.”

Selmak leaned against the wall, arms folded. “That is remarkable. Up to now, there have only been legends. We have always speculated that Tau’ri might be part of the Aschen Confederation now, but we had no idea which planet it might be.”

“Wait a minute.” Jack pressed his fingers against his temples. “What do you mean, all humans originate from Tau’ri?”

“Provided that your world is Tau’ri, all humans in this galaxy are originally from your planet. They were taken to other planets by the Goa’uld thousands of years ago. Even the Aschen.”

“The Aschen aren’t humans, they’re Aschen.” Carter stared at her.

Selmak shook her head. “Biologically, the Aschen are no different from other humans. However, we are aware that they promote a policy of racial difference on the planets they rule. Undoubtedly a means to justify their reign.”

Jack rubbed his forehead. Did that mean the Aschen originated from Earth? That couldn’t be true. He turned to Carter. “Is that even possible?”

She swallowed visibly, then shrugged. Apparently, she was just as surprised. “I’m not sure, sir. We’ve never gained access to the genetic files of the Aschen since they’re encrypted. I assume it’s theoretically possible. They look like us. They reproduce like us.”

“They’re Aschen. They’re stiff, they have no sense of humor—“

“Jack, that’s all the result of a different culture. It’s not related to biology,” Daniel said.

“Are you telling me they might be humans like us?”

Daniel nodded. “And Earth would be their home planet.” His face became blank. Then he paled visibly. “Do you realize how severely that would undermine our movement’s basic goals?” He took off his glasses and waved them around.

Jack raised his eyebrows at him. Suddenly the Jaffa and the snake-woman didn’t seem like their worst problems anymore.

Carter inhaled sharply. “If Earth was their original homeworld… They have a right to be there.”

“Yeah.” Daniel flinched and released a tortured sigh. “Exactly what I just thought.”

Selmak cleared her throat. “The time when humans were taken from Earth is long past. It happened thousands of years ago. The Tok’ra evolved from the Goa’uld over two-thousand years ago. We originated from them, but we do not call their planets our homeworld anymore.”

“Selmak’s got a point.” Jack raised his brows. Had he just agreed with the damn snake? He turned to Carter. “They left thousands of years ago, then they came back to enslave us. Earth is no more their homeworld than Aschen is ours.”

“Sir.” Carter’s face reflected serious doubt. Jack frowned at her.

“Carter. I don’t care if ten thousand years ago we all originated from the same planet. They’re stealing our crops for cryin’ out loud. They treat us like slaves and broodmares. Do you honestly wanna tell me that you think they got a right to do that, just because some thousand years ago we all shared the same planet?”

She shifted awkwardly. “No, sir.”

“Let’s not lose perspective here, kids. They may have been humans from Earth once. But that was long ago. I don’t try to make friends with the monkeys in the jungle just because some million years ago we originated from a common ancestor.”

Carter seemed convinced by the argument. Which surprised him, because he had no idea if he’d even made sense.

Clearing her throat, Selmak pushed herself away from the wall. “Come with me, please.” She nodded at the Jaffa, who visibly relaxed.

As they followed the Tok’ra and the Jaffa along the wide, endless crystal corridors, Daniel caught up with him. “Jack, if she’s right, we can’t just ignore the political implications.”

“Daniel, I don’t care who the Aschen are, or where they came from. It doesn’t change the present in any way.”

“Doesn’t it, sir?” Carter looked ahead with a thoughtful expression. “Our whole lives the Aschen told us we were genetically inferior. Their fixation with keeping the races apart is one of the key laws they use to oppress us. Everything’s based on those laws. And think about the rules against what they call ‘mixed-breeds’. All that has no grounds. If you look at it from our perspective, it even validates us.” She glanced at him. “Granted, their vaccines and the breeding system have done major damage to the human gene pool, so there may be a genetic difference now. But _they_ did this to us, and we might be able to use it against them.”

He’d been prepared for more doubts, but her arguments actually had merit. He hadn’t even thought of that yet. “We gotta look into that. See if we can confirm it’s true.” When Carter didn’t respond, Jack looked at the Jaffa. “So, you got a name?”

“Teal’c.”

“Just Teal’c?”

“Indeed.”

“Ah.” Definitely a weird fella. “You trust these people?”

“Indeed, I do.” The Jaffa stared straight ahead.

“You’re not a man of many words, are you?” That prompted the Jaffa to raise an eyebrow at him.

They entered a larger room with a group of six Tok’ra. They all wore the same beige color. Only the cuts of their garments varied slightly. Selmak approached them, and for a few minutes, they whispered quietly.

Jack shifted. Something inside him wanted to trust Selmak. One of those hunches he’d mentioned to Carter earlier. But what if he was wrong?

Carter approached him and he leaned towards her. “What do you think they’re talking about?” Her voice was low.

“Hopefully not how to overpower us and force us to become hosts.” His joke didn’t have the desired effect—probably because that was still a very real possibility. She held his gaze, worry deepening in her eyes. He pressed her hand gently. “If they’d wanted to do that, they would’ve already.”

“Yeah.” She nodded. “Let’s hope.”

At last, Selmak returned to them. “The council agrees to your proposition.”

“Um. What proposition?” Jack raised his eyebrows.

“We will agree to an alliance if we can make a base for the Tok’ra on Tau’ri.”

“That was a proposition?” Jack frowned at Daniel. “I thought we were throwing ideas around. Before we got sidetracked, I was just in the process of saying it’s off the table.”

“Do you not agree to your companion’s plan?” Selmak straightened, her face darkening.

“Well, in general, it may—and I stress _may_ —be worth considering. But you gotta understand, we’re an underground movement on an Aschen planet. We can’t take a group of—what, fifty?”

“Two-hundred and seventy-five Tok’ra are here at the moment. Several more are on covert missions.”

Jack coughed. “Three hundred?” Well, that was way more than expected.

“We have the technology to build caves underground. You would only have to grant us access to your Stargate. And provide us with food.”

“That’s a bit of a problem.” Jack pulled his cap off and brushed some sand out of his hair. “See, we got about thirty people at camp, and our food’s strictly rationed. What you’re proposing would require us to obtain ten times as much.”

“Would it help if we did our own trading through the Stargate?”

“Little problem with that, too. Our access to the gate is limited to four times a day. Once every six hours. So you can’t just come and go as you wish. And I have a feeling with three-hundred people constantly wanting to leave and return, that’s gonna turn into a major issue.”

“Hmm.” Selmak studied him, her face neutral.

“We could help you find another homeworld. We got a few Stargate addresses of worlds the Goa’uld haven’t been to.”

Selmak nodded with a friendly smile. “Wait here.” She turned and walked over to the group again.

Jack leaned in to Carter. “Do these people know how to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’?”

She lowered her head and tried to hide her smile, but he caught the glint in her eyes. At least she was loosening up.

After a few minutes, Selmak returned. “Would it be possible for you to take in about ten of us?”

Jack straightened. “Ten might be possible. What about the rest?”

“During the past months, we have had problems with hiding from the Goa’uld. One of our operatives betrayed us a few months ago, and gave the coordinates of all our planets to the system lord Ba’al, whose ships showed up at every one of them. This one is next.” Selmak’s brows scrunched. “The Tok’ra council members are the heart of our movement. We are also the ones who never use the Stargate, unless we have to move to another planet.”

“I see.” Jack nodded. “Keep the heart of the operation safe on a different world.”

“Exactly.” Selmak bowed her head. “Our operatives could then come and go through the gate on our new homeworld as needed. And once every few days, we would send a trusted liaison through the gate to be in constant contact with the rest of our group.”

Jack studied her for a while, contemplating her idea. The risks weren’t lost on him. On the other hand… these people were technologically a lot more advanced than they were. If they offered to share that technology… And supply them with zat-guns…

He scratched his head. “There’s the little issue with the leak you mentioned. Someone ratting you out to some Goa’uld?”

“He has been eliminated, and I assure you, there are no spies among the Tok’ra council. All liaisons will be carefully selected. The location of the council’s new base will only be disclosed to few people.”

Jack released a long breath and looked first at Carter, then at Daniel. This wasn’t an easy choice, and neither of them could help. The security of camp solely rested on his shoulders. He’d like to hear what Sheppard and Mitchell thought before he made a finite decision. “Listen, I can’t just decide something like this on my own. We got something like a council, too.”

“I see.” Selmak’s face gentled. “In that case you may return to your world and consult with your council.”

“Great.” He nodded at Daniel, then at Sam, indicating them to follow him. “Would you—um—show us out?”

“Oh.” Selmak shook her head. “You alone. Your two companions will remain.”

Jack froze on the spot. “Oh, I don’t think so.”

“Jack.” Daniel shifted next him. “Maybe you should—”

“Daniel, I’m not gonna leave you behind. Who knows what they’re gonna do to you?”

Selmak lowered her head and closed her eyes. When she looked up again, she seemed once more strangely changed. “I understand your concerns. I can send one of us with you as insurance?” Kenut, the host.

“Tell you what. How about one of us stays, and one of you goes back to Earth with us.” Jack folded his arms, waiting for her answer.

She contemplated his proposition for a long moment. Then, finally. “That would be an acceptable solution.”

“Alright.” Jack nodded at Carter and Daniel. “You two go. I’ll stay. Inform Sheppard of what happened and tell him of the deal.”

“Jack,” Daniel protested at the same time as Sam said “Sir” next to him.

He raised his brows and looked first at Daniel, then at Carter. “That wasn’t a request. There’s no way I’ll leave either of you—”

“Jack, let me stay.” Daniel held his gaze, his face urgent. “I have a lot of questions about their culture. And besides, I think you should be there to explain the situation. Neither Sam nor I have the authority to make decisions.”

“Daniel.” Jack grabbed his arm and pulled him aside. “What if they turn you into a host?”

“What if they do it to you?” He released a sigh. “Jack, they’re Tok’ra. I told you before, they won’t.”

Maybe Daniel _was_ uniquely qualified to stay behind. He’d had faith in these people from the start. Still, leaving one of his team behind when he wasn’t there?

“Please, Jack.”

Jack took a deep breath. “Fine.” He turned and frowned at Selmak. “I’ll hold you personally responsible for his safety. If anything happens to him, or he gets one of those snakes into his head, I’ll have your head on a platter.”

Selmak’s eyes glowed. Apparently, she didn’t like him refering to her as a snake. Yeah, well, tough luck. He wasn’t as willing to fully trust them yet. At least, not where the whole taking hosts things was concerned.

“I assure you, no harm will come to your friend. I will personally vouch for his safety.”

“You better.” Jack held her gaze for another long moment, then nodded at Carter. “Let’s go home.”


	41. Blending

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> This version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).
> 
>  
> 
> Now you can also find an ebook version of this story on my website, including lots of bonus material as well as the first publication version of Stargate Aschen. (Click image to download.)  
> 
> 
>   
>  [](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-free-stargate-sg-1-ebook/)   
>    
> 

Sam glanced up from the sandy ground as they walked towards the Stargate. Of all the people to go with them, they had to choose the Jaffa. His tall, strong body with his broad shoulders intimidated her a little, though he had a certain calmness to him.

The glaring sun made his dark skin look golden-brown. For a moment, she wondered how he walked around with his metal armor in this blazing heat without looking the least bit affected.

“So you got one of snakes in you?” Jack waved at Teal’c’s stomach. Once more, she admired how he hid his concerns behind a facade of calm.

“Indeed.”

“Tok’ra?”

“No. The Tok’ra do not use Jaffa. My symbiote is a Goa’uld.”

“Doesn’t that bug you?” Jack stuck his hands into his pockets.

“Without a symbiote I would die, O’Neill.” Teal’c turned his head back toward the gate. “I have little choice.” He fell silent again, his face stoic.

Sam brushed Jack’s arm. “Sir, we can’t take him back to camp, can we?” With all the new recruits there, the gate still had to stay a secret. Which would be hard to do with an alien walking around.

“Yeah.” He glanced at her. “You’re gonna have to go back and tell Sheppard and Mitchell to meet us at the gate.” He signaled her to fall behind with him.

She slowed her step with raised eyebrows. “Sir?”

“What do you think of this whole alliance thing?” When she shrugged awkwardly, he cleared his throat and gave her a gentle nudge with his shoulder. “I’m looking for an honest opinion. Off the record, Sam.”

Thoughtful, she glanced at him. “The intel and technology we’d gain from such an alliance would be invaluable. They might be able to help with a lot of the Goa’uld artifacts in our storage we couldn’t make sense of until now. But there’s a risk. And it would complicate things with the recruits.”

Jack nodded. “My thoughts exactly. And to be honest, the whole Goa’uld being different from the Tok’ra thing doesn’t quite convince me yet.”

“Well, the files we brought back prove the Tok’ra are enemies of the Goa’uld.”

“Yeah, but those files come from a different universe. Who says these Tok’ra are the same? Or that they aren’t working with the Aschen? We got a lot to lose here.”

She leaned in and smiled at him. “No hunches?”

He smirked. “If it was just me, I’d take the risk. But it’s about the lives of everyone at camp, and this is one of those moments where my gut might be wrong.”

She took a deep breath and looked ahead at the gate. She wouldn’t want to be in his shoes. A lot of issues might arise from the alliance. Would the Tok’ra be able to coexist? Would the rest of the camp members be willing to share rations and accommodations?

As they reached the Stargate, Jack dialed Earth with a sidelong glance at the Jaffa. He stood straight and almost wooden next to him. The desert sand around them glimmered in the soft blue light of the event horizon as it opened. Sam took a deep break as she stepped through.

Everything might be different from now on.

 

***

 

“Sam.”

Sam gasped and spun, the towel around her neck dropping to the floor. “You scared me.”

Jack entered the tent, smirking. “Sorry.”

“Done already?” She raised her eyebrows at him. She’d counted on him, Sheppard and Mitchell to talk for at least an hour.

“Yeah. We decided the benefits of the alliance outweigh the potential risks.”

Her heart pounded in her ears. They’d make an alliance with the Tok’ra. “When will we leave? During the next window?”

“Yes. Sheppard and I will. You’re not coming with.”

“What?” She turned, hands on her hips. “Why?”

“Cause, Carter. It’s enough, Daniel’s still on that planet. We’re gonna go and negotiate the details with them.”

“But…”

“Ack.” He lifted his hand. “No buts. That’s an order. You can chat about their technology with them once they’re at camp.”

Damn, didn’t he know when to play that command card. “Yes, sir.”

“It shouldn’t take long. We hope to wrap up the negotiations in one six-hour window. And we got a few suggestions for their new base. Some of our old beta-sites aren’t Goa’uld planets. We’re gonna offer them one. Maybe they can use it, at least temporarily.” He stretched with a yawn and glanced at his watch. “Four hours ‘til I gotta get ready.”

“Where’s the Jaffa?” She combed her hair in front of the mirror before she dropped down on their bed. She’d gone almost twenty-four hours without sleep.

“At the gate. Sheppard and McKay are keeping him company.” He grabbed a fresh set of clothes. “I’m gonna take a quick shower.”

“Okay.” Yawning, she pulled the covers over herself. Damn, she was exhausted. Her eyes fell closed.

She snapped awake when Jack slid into the sleeping bag next to her. He smelled like him. No shower soap, so he’d probably used the unscented product. She released a contented sigh as she snuggled up close up to him and nuzzled his neck. This was great. His warmth, his closeness… his embrace. Even if they’d have to spend the rest of their lives in this tent at Antarctica, as long as she could spend it by his side…

Wait, what? Since when was she thinking long-term? Only a few months ago she’d resisted the mere idea of being married to him.

He shifted and pulled the covers higher. Delightful warmth surrounded her.

“Should we be sleeping when Daniel’s still stuck out there?” she mumbled and forced her eyes to open.

Jack raised his eyebrows and brushed her nose with his. “Nothing we can do about it now. And with another six hour mission ahead, I wanna catch at least a coupla hours sleep.” He tickled her neck with his nose. “Besides, we’ve both been up for twenty-four hours.”

“Yeah.” She wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes again. “Good point.”

“Sleep. That’s an order.”

Ordering her around in bed? Somehow her brain wouldn’t comply to give him a proper comeback anymore.

 

***

 

Sam paced up and down in front of the dialing device and glanced at her watch. Two more minutes until their window. If they didn’t come through this time…

Jack had left twelve hours ago. He’d said they’d return with the next window—which would have been six hours before—but they hadn’t. Something had to have gone wrong. She knew it. There was no other explanation.

What if the Tok’ra had turned both him and Daniel into hosts against their will? What if they hadn’t liked the terms of the arrangement? God, maybe she shouldn’t have been so premature in trusting them.

“Sam.” She glanced up. Rodney gave her an annoyed look. “Would you stop the pacing? I can’t think straight.”

“What if they need help?” She stopped and took a deep breath.

Rodney sat up straight. “We wouldn’t be able to do anything anyway.”

“If they don’t return this window, I’ll organize a rescue team.”

“And then what?” He got up from the tree stump. “If they’re in trouble and can’t dial the gate to come back, chances are the rescue team will be stuck too.”

She ignored his snippiness. “We can’t leave them on that planet.”

“Well, we can’t follow them either. You know protocol.”

Damn protocol. Yes, he had a point. They couldn’t afford to lose members on a rescue mission. Every team had to make it back on their own. Frustrated, she dropped down on a rock and buried her face in her hands.

She hated the helplessness. Being stuck here, with no idea what was going on. With no clue how to help.

The first chevron lit up on the Stargate and locked with a click. She jumped up and placed her palms on the dialing device. Finally.

It seemed to take forever until the event horizon opened in a blue splash. Sheppard stepped through, then a few Tok’ra, followed by Daniel.

Four. Five. None of them faces she’d seen before. Sheppard came towards her. He looked exhausted.

“Colonel.”

“We ran into a bit of trouble. Ba’al’s ships showed up, so we had to evacuate everybody to our beta-site.” He looked at the Tok’ra. “There were a few casualties.”

Her heart stopped. Someone had died. “Colonel O’Neill?” She wasn’t sure if her whisper even carried sound.

Sheppard’s head jerked around to her. “He’s fine. But one of the Tok’ra council members died protecting Dr. Jackson.”

Sam’s gaze shifted to Daniel, who sank down next to Rodney on a tree stump. If Sheppard looked exhausted, Daniel appeared positively miserable. He pressed a white cloth against his upper arm. Red lined the edges.

“Daniel.” She rushed to him.

“I’m fine.” Daniel flinched. “Just a flesh wound. I really want to lie down.”

She pulled the cloth away and winced as she inspected his wound. _Flesh-wound, my ass._ A Jaffa staff blast had hit his arm, and the skin was burned away down to the muscle.

“Janet needs to treat this.” She placed her hands on her thighs. “You think you can walk back to camp?”

“Yeah. No problem. Give me a minute.”

More Tok’ra stepped out of the gate. Three men, three women. Then, finally…

“Jack.” She got up and crossed the distance to the gate. The event horizon closed behind him. A stinging smell reached her nostrils as she stepped closer, but she didn’t care. He was home. She reached out and brushed her hand along his.

Jack held her gaze, the ghost of a smile playing around his lips. “You really don’t wanna get too close until I’ve taken a shower.”

Now that he mentioned it… The smell grew stronger. As though he carried a dead animal around. Her stomach turned. Cringing, she covered her mouth and nose with her hand. “What is that?”

“Turned out our beta-site has some pretty nasty skunk-like squirrels.” He grimaced and dropped his P90 and the backpack.

She pressed her lips together in a futile attempt not to laugh. When she failed, she lowered her head.

“Carter.”

“Sorry, sir.” When she met his gaze, his eyes twinkled. “I just hope the shower’s gonna take care of that, otherwise I’ll make camp in the science tent.”

Grinning, he leaned in to her ear. “Traitor.” His warm breath caressed her ear. He walked over to Daniel, who still sat on the tree stump. “You gonna be okay? I can get some of the guys to carry you on a—”

“Jack, I told you, I’m fine.” Daniel got up and staggered. She rushed to his side to steady him while Jack took his other side.

“He’s insisted on being fine ever since he got hit.” Jack sighed.

“Yeah, well, in the light of what happened, I _am_ pretty fine, don’t you think?” Daniel snapped. He closed his eyes. “Sorry.”

“ _What_ happened?” She raised her eyebrows at Jack.

“Selmak got killed trying to protect Daniel as we were evacuating people through the gate.”

Ice poured into her veins. “What?”

Daniel closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, then he gave Jack an annoyed stare. “ _Kenut_ got killed. They managed to save the symbiote. Who now needs a new host to survive.”

“Again, no, Daniel.” Jack frowned at him.

“Jack, she died trying to save me. The least I can do is repay the favor.”

“Daniel, I won’t let you become host for one of those Goa’uld. You’re our leading archeologist for crying out loud.”

“You want to become a host?” Sam asked, interrupting the emerging debate.

“Well, no… but she saved my life. Selmak won’t survive long without a host,” Daniel said.

“She knew the stakes.” Jack stared ahead darkly. “She threw herself in front of you, knowing what would happen. They can’t expect you to—”

“Jack, she only did it because she’d vouched for my well-being.”

“Why don’t we get you to the doc for now and let her fix your arm. And after we’ve all slept and rested for a while—”

“Then it’ll be too late.” Daniel glared at him.

Jack stopped. “Daniel, let me make something very clear. You’re not gonna become a Goa’uld host. I don’t care if she saved you. This is a matter of security. Besides. I can’t spare you to run off fighting the Goa’uld somewhere.”

Daniel slumped with a sigh. Sam wasn’t sure whether Jack had convinced him, or he was just too exhausted to continue arguing.

Daniel, becoming a Tok’ra. Her stomach knotted at the thought. And yet, if the Tok’ra were who they claimed to be—and if one of them had sacrificed her life for Daniel, it appeared that way—gaining their knowledge would be invaluable.

Not to mention that it might strengthen their new alliance. She studied Daniel and exchanged a glance with Jack. There had to be another way.

 

***

 

Sam looked up from the artifact on her desk when the tent flap rustled. Jack entered, his hair tousled and wet looking, undoubtedly from the shower he’d taken. Her stomach flip-flopped when he smiled.

“Sir?” Still on duty after all.

“Thank God those little buggers weren’t like our skunks here. One shower and I’m as good as new.” He sat against the edge of her desk and looked at the device on her desk. “Whatcha doing?”

She raised her eyebrows. “I’m taking apart the Goa’uld hand-device we found on P41-X42.”

“Ah.” He reached out a hand and drew her toward him. God, it was good to have him back. If she’d lost him… She closed her eyes and buried her face at his shoulder.

The fresh scent of body wash and laundry detergent reached her nostrils. No more skunk smell. With a relieved sigh, she flicked her tongue over his jugular. His grip on her tightened, and he pressed her flush against him.

“I’m glad you’re okay.” She studied the fine lines around his eyes, his grey-flecked hair. In the light of the lamp on her desk, his eyes shimmered almost black. “When you didn’t return as scheduled, I was getting worried.”

“You were?” He brushed her nose with is.

“Of course.” She trailed her lips over his, teasing, before she drew him into a deep kiss. When they broke apart, her heart thudded loud and fast in her ears.

“Here’s a thought.” He glanced at her desk. “How valuable are these doohickeys.”

Laughing she grabbed his arm. “Don’t you dare. Besides, McKay could come back any moment.”

He sighed. “Shame. I’ve had this fantasy of making you scream in the middle of your work tent.”

Such a man. She rolled her eyes with a giggle. He knew as well as she did he’d never do that, given the limited privacy at camp. As hot the idea sounded.

“So how are the Tok’ra?”

“Settling in.” Jack stretched with a sigh. “They’ve apparently created an underground base close to the ancient structure we found in the forest.”

“That was fast.” She stared at him. “They’ve been here for only two hours.”

“Some kinda crystal they use.”

A crystal? Which was apparently able to form underground tunnels? “I’d love to take a look at those.”

He chuckled. “Not now though. I need you to make lists of the technologies we acquired from the Goa’uld, so we can work on them with the Tok’ra. Daniel’s doing the same for the artifacts.”

“How’s he doing? His wound looked pretty bad.”

“The doc said he’ll be fine.” He picked up one of the smaller stones from her desk and examined it. “He’s gotta spend a coupla days in the medical tent, but Vala and your dad are keeping him company.”

She took a deep breath. Now or never. He probably wouldn’t like her idea. “How’s Selmak?”

“The snake? Don’t know, don’t care.” He put the stone down.

Yeah, this was gonna be hard. “I meant to talk to you about something.”

His eyebrows climbed as he looked up and studied her. 

Sam swallowed hard. “Selmak needs a new host.”

“Carter, I won’t—”

“Please.” She closed her eyes. “Sir. Let me finish.”

Sighing, he sat down on one of the boxes and folded his arms. At least, he was apparently willing to listen.

She held his gaze. “My dad’s miserable. I know he’s trying to put on the façade of the tough guy. But knowing he’ll never be able to walk again…” She closed her eyes. “What if he became Selmak’s new host?”

Jack sat up straight, jaw clenched. “Over my dead body.”

“Sir.”

“Carter.” He frowned at her. “You can’t honestly suggest handing your own dad over to a Goa’uld.”

“A _Tok’ra_.” Anger welled up inside her. Surely by now the Tok’ra had proven even to him they weren’t at all like the Goa’uld. They had the alternate universe files. One of them had risked her own life to protect Daniel. “Why did you even agree to let them stay on Earth if you hate them so much?”

“Well, I’m not entirely convinced that it was a good idea yet. I’m not gonna start trusting them. Yes, they seem to be nicer and more civilized. But they still take hosts. And as far as I’m concerned, there’s not a damn difference between—”

“It’s not really your decision to make.”

He got up. “Excuse me?”

She swallowed hard. “With all due respect. Sir. But this isn’t a matter that concerns camp. My father is not under your command.”

His eyes blazed. “You’re a little outta line.”

She folded her arms. “So are you.”

“Oh, am I?” His expression darkened. “I respect your concern for your dad’s well-being. But you’re biased here, don’tcha think?”

“Maybe I am.” She fisted her hands at her sides. “But you fought with these people, side by side. One of them saved Daniel. Yet you’re still fixated on not trusting them. I wonder who of us is more biased.”

“Carter, I’ve had a lot more run-ins with the Goa’uld than you in your—what, barely one year of service?”

Ouch. He had a point. Still. “I’m not saying I know more about them than you.” Sighing, she dropped her arms. “And maybe I’m biased out of concern for my dad. Or maybe my lack of experience with the Goa’uld makes me a bit less prejudiced. I know, biologically the Tok’ra are the same as the Goa’uld. But biologically the Aschen are the same as us. Yet our values, goals and attitudes are entirely different.”

Their gazes remained locked for a few long moments. He didn’t say anything, but his face softened ever so slightly. She took a step towards him and touched his hand.

“Jack. I was with Ba’al and his Jaffa for, well, long enough to tell the difference. All I’m saying is, these Tok’ra are the opposite of Ba’al. Their attitude, their manners, their goals. It’s like day and night. When I look at them I don’t see an enemy.” She pressed his hand. “Please. I’m not asking you to make the choice. I’m asking you to give my dad the option and let him make the choice. He has a right to choose for himself.” She closed her eyes and swallowed hard. “But I won’t go over your head.”

He sighed before he drew her closer and let his mouth linger at her temple. Was he mad at her? His behavior didn’t indicate anger.

“Has anybody ever told you, you’re pretty smart?” His breath warmed her hairline.

She chuckled, relieved. So he wasn’t angry. “It has come up. Occasionally.”

“Give me a bit of time to think about it. Coupla hours?”

“Okay.”

 

***

 

Jack played with his pen while he stared at a few boxes lining the wall of his command tent. For the past hour, he’d been torn between arguments for and against Carter’s suggestion. He still wasn’t entirely sure. Could one ever be?

The tent flap opened and Carter peeked inside with a cautious smile. Immediately his spirits lifted. Something about her smile…

“You wanted to see me, sir?”

“Yeah, come in.” He leaned back in his chair.

She let the canvas fall closed behind her and came to stand in front of his desk, arms behind her back. Her gaze held his as he took a deep breath.

“About what you said...” He couldn’t believe he was actually gonna do this. “All right. We’ll give Jacob the choice.”

Her face lit up, and she gave him a beaming smile. “Thank you. I meant to say something, too. When we had the argument, I was out of line, and—”

“Sam.” He looked up at her. “You were right. I am biased.”

“Oh.” Her eyebrows climbed as she strolled around the desk to his chair.

He took her hand and drew her closer. “I try to be as unbiased as possible, but sometimes I don’t quite manage not to—“

“—be an ass?” Her eyes twinkled.

He cleared his throat. “—let my personal feelings get in the way.”

She raked her fingers through his hair. “So you’d be fine if my dad chose to become a Tok’ra host?”

“It’d be odd. And if the choice were up to me, I’d still be against it.” He released a breath. “But you had some pretty convincing arguments. I’ll accept whatever decision he makes.”

Her face softened as she leaned down to hover her mouth close over his. “I know, I’m probably out of line again since we’re on duty…”

His breath caught when she brushed her lips over his and drew him into a lingering kiss that sent tingles down his spine. “You’re right. That will call for some disciplinary action. Later. When we’re alone in our tent.” His voice came out throaty.

Damn, he was tired. He’d been on a twelve hour mission with only four hours sleep before. Nothing like a kiss from Carter to reawaken his body.

She chuckled and brushed her thumb along his lower lip. “Yes, sir.” Her face grew serious. “Have you told my dad yet?”

“No. I figured you’d wanna do it yourself. Besides, you’re better when it comes to the differences between the snak—“ He cleared his throat. Maybe he should stop referring to them as snakes. “Tok’ra and the Goa’uld.”

Her eyes gleamed. “Why don’t we do it together?”

“I’m not gonna be very positive about this.”

“At least that way he’ll hear both sides before he makes his decision.” She took a step back.

Jack lifted from his chair and followed her to the tent entrance. Before they left the tent, she turned around once more and studied him. Concern reflected on her face as she chewed her lower lip. “Are we okay?”

He raised his eyebrows. “Yeah, why wouldn’t we be?”

“Because of our argument… and I was pretty insubordinate.”

“So you were.” He chuckled. She’d come a long way from the hot-tempered recruit who’d beat up Mitchell. “But we were amongst ourselves. Why don’t we file it away as a friendly debate? An exchange of opinions if you wish.”

She smiled at him. “Yes, sir.”

When she wanted to turn again, he reached out and grabbed her arm. “Sam.”

She stopped and gave him a quizzical look. “Yes?”

“Don’t ever stop sharing your opinions with me. When we’re alone.”

Her face gentled as she reached up to touch his cheek. Her eyes sparkled. “Even if I wanted to, I’m not sure I could.”

He grinned as she turned and left the tent. True words.

 

***

 

Sighing, Sam sat down on the box in front of the medical tent. God, it had been over two hours. Why were they taking so long? She brushed her hand through her hair and leaned her elbows on her thighs.

What if something had gone wrong? What if her dad’s body had rejected the symbiote? Then again, wouldn’t somebody be out here already to tell her?

Two Tok’ra were inside to supervise the procedure. They had all kinds of medical equipment with them, and the male one, Martouf, had assured her they’d do everything to make the blending successful.

She’d taken the Tok’ra’s side, and her father had been convinced by her arguments. Or maybe the prospect of being able to walk again. But what if the Tok’ra and the Goa’uld were more alike than she’d thought?

The rustling of the canvas covering the entrance pulled Sam out of her thoughts.

The Tok’ra woman stepped outside and gave her a cautious smile as she sat down on another box next to hers. “He’ll be fine. The blending was successful, but Selmak needs a while to heal his body. Your father might still be a little disoriented, but he’s strong.”

Sam released a relieved breath. “Oh thank God… um…” What was the woman’s name? She wasn’t sure if they’d introduced her.

The Tok’ra seemed to read her thoughts. “I’m Rosha. Host to Jolinar of Malkshur. My companion Martouf and I are liaisons to the Tok’ra council.”

She sat up straight and smiled. “Sam.”

“I heard you were the one who convinced your father to do the procedure. In the name of all Tok’ra, I wanted to thank you. Without you, Selmak would have died.”

“It wasn’t me.” Sam shook her head. “I just presented the arguments, and to be honest, I began having doubts myself. You have to understand, up to now, we’ve only run into Goa’uld. And my experiences with them were… Well, let’s say they weren’t pleasant.”

Rosha smiled. “We are aware of the Goa’uld’s aggressive strategies towards humans. We hope that, over time, through our alliance, you will begin to trust the Tok’ra. And that we can become friends.”

She studied Rosha. Her features were gentle, but there was a fire in her eyes that spoke of a strong and resilient character. Maybe not unlike her. “I would like that.”

“Hey.”

Sam turned her head. Jack peaked around the corner of the tent. He looked exhausted. She couldn’t really blame him. Though he had laid down for a short nap after they’d talked to her dad, he’d probably need a good night’s sleep. “Sir.”

“How is he?” He took a sip of the coffee he carried and sat down next to the tent entrance.

Rosha smiled. “He will be fine. We will be able to talk to him in a few minutes.”

He leaned back. “So, will he still be, you know, himself?”

The Tok’ra closed her eyes and looked down. When she lifted her head again, her face was tenser, more serious. “I assure you, colonel, he will be as much himself as he was before the procedure.” The deep, resonant voice told Sam it had to be Jolinar talking now.

“But he will share his body with Selmak.”

“Yes.” Jolinar turned to her. “Selmak is the oldest Tok’ra among us, and one of the wisest in our council.”

Jack groaned. “Oh, for cryin’ out loud.”

Both Sam and Jolinar raised their brows at him.

He waved towards the tent entrance. “Now he’s gonna be even more convinced he’s right with whatever he says than before.”

A giggle bubbled up in Sam, and the Tok’ra woman looked equally amused by his reaction.

Martouf peeked out of the tent with a toothy grin. “He’s awake. You can talk to him now.”

Finally. Sam jumped up and rubbed her palms against her legs. Her initial nervousness returned. How much had the blending changed her father? Would he really still be himself? Would he be able to walk again?

Jack stepped up beside her and squeezed her shoulder. “He’s gonna be fine. You’ll see.”

“I hope.” She grazed his arm, took a deep breath and stepped inside the tent. Her eyes took a moment to get used to the dim light.

Her father sat on one of the beds, eyes closed. Janet finished taking his blood pressure, then gave Sam a reassuring smile and a nod.

Her heart jumped. He was fine. “Dad?”

Her father opened his eyes, and his face lit up when he saw her. “Kiddo.”

That sounded as though he was still the same. She approached the bed. “How are you feeling?”

“A little dizzy still. It feels like my brain is about to burst.”

Next to Sam, Martouf folded his arms behind his back. “The feeling will pass. It is all very new. You have to give your body a few hours to adjust.”

Sam walked up to his bed and touched his hand. “And Selmak? Is he… she…” What gender was the symbiote anyway? She swallowed hard. Selmak had been a female before. But was she still one?

Martouf gave her a warm smile. “Symbiotes have no biological gender in the sense that humanoids do. Though many of them develop a preference for either male or female hosts.”

“I see.” No gender. Fascinating. They hadn’t known that about Goa’uld. “Is Selmak all right?”

“I am fine, Ensign Carter.”

She almost jumped back when she heard the unfamiliar, resonant voice that came out of her father’s mouth. She stared at him.

“I am sorry. I did not mean to startle you.”

“No. I…” She pressed his hand again. “I didn’t mean to be startled. It was just unexpected.”

“Your father and I are fine. I promise, I will take good care of him.”

Sam studied him. Selmak. She couldn’t believe this was the same Selmak they’d been in negotiations with on the planet. The woman with the long chestnut hair. Suddenly, she felt sorry for him. What was it like to lose a host like this? If they were connected so deeply…

“I’m sorry for the loss of Kenut.”

“So am I.” Pain flashed across Selmak’s face. “Over the past five years she and I became dear friends. I wish I could have done more to save her.”

From the back of the tent, Jack cleared his throat and came strolling towards them, hands in his pockets. “So you and Jacob equally share this body? If you don’t mind, can we talk to him? I got a coupla questions.”

Selmak looked down, then back up. His features changed, then Jacob blinked twice and shook his head. “Now that’s weird. It’s like I can feel myself talking, but it’s not me.”

“You will get used to that,” Martouf said. “In the next couple of days your brain will adjust to the changes the symbiote made.”

Jack raised his eyebrows. “How’re you? Any evil, snaky desires?”

Jacob rolled his eyes. “Jack, I know you were against this. I don’t feel different. No, that’s not true, I do. I can move my legs again, and I feel stronger.”

“Just checking.” Jack buried his hands in his pockets. “So how’s this gonna work? You gonna be with the Tok’ra from now on?”

“The Tok’ra think it’d be best I stay here at camp, at least for a while. The relations between both groups are still tense. So for now, I’ll be your liaison with the Tok’ra. Apparently, Selmak is a member of the council, so it’s an ideal position for me.” Flinching, he got up from the bed. Then he bounced slightly. “This is incredible. It’s as though I’m thirty again.”

“Yeah, listen.” Jack put his hand on his shoulder. “That’s great. I’m happy for ya. But there are a few security matters we’ll need to talk about.”

“Jack. I’m still me. I know what’s at stake, and I know the procedures at camp. Besides, what I know, Selmak knows.”

“Right.” Jack still didn’t look as though he entirely believed him. “Why don’t we still go over them again in a briefing? Humor me.”

“You’re the commander of this camp.” Jacob wrapped his arm around Sam. “Why don’t you show me around, now that I can walk on my own again?”

Sam gave him a beaming smile. “I’d love that.”

“Jack? Are you gonna join us?”

“You betcha.”

 

***

 

Later that evening, Sam closed her eyes with a sigh as she snuggled under the blankets of her sleeping bag. After the endless day, her muscles ached with the sudden relief.

When Jack entered, she lifted her head. He looked around the tent with raised eyebrows.

“Carter?”

“I traded a few of our blankets to the Tok’ra in exchange for these drapes.” She looked at the dark drapes she’d fastened at the ceiling of the tent so they created a partition around their sleeping bag. “I figured those give us a little more privacy. So we don’t have to worry about, you know, putting on a shadow-show when we...” She cleared her throat. “Sleep here.”

His mouth tugged into a slow smirk. “Intriguing.”

“I hope you don’t mind.” She sat up.

He pulled his shirt over his head and opened his pants. “Not at all.”

She laughed when he dropped a ticklish kiss on the base of her neck. Bare-chested, he slid under the covers next to her and lay down, only to release a groan of pleasure.

With a smile, Sam pulled the last drape closed, which enveloped their sleeping area in a dim light. “See? Privacy.”

His eyes sparkled in the soft light and pleasant shivers ran down her spine as he trailed his hand along her back. “Does that mean we can actually get a bit more creative now?”

“Mmhmm.” She snuggled up close to him. “But the drapes aren’t soundproof, so we’re gonna have to be quiet.”

“There’s a challenge.” He leaned down and began trailing a hot path of kisses down her neck. “Let’s see just what it takes to make you abandon that thought.”

“Jack.” She laughed and pushed against his chest when he nipped at her neck.

“I still get to have my way with you, remember?”

She froze. Heat shot through every part of her body at his words. Right. Their debate from earlier. She studied him. What was he up to?

He chuckled. “Turn around.”

Trembling, she turned on her side so she lay with her back against the hard planes of his chest. “Jack?”

He chuckled and his warm breath caressed the back of her ear. “Relax.”

She let out a breathless laugh. “Then stop tickling me.” When his touch on her waist gentled, excitement coiled in her stomach.

His palm traced a warm path down and the along her abdomen. Goosebumps followed wherever he touched. She leaned her head back against his shoulder and nuzzled his chin.

“Lose the clothes.” His thumb gave her panties a playful tug.

**_{SHORTENED to keep this version M-rated! You can find the[full version on my website](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-chapter-41-blending-unabridged/).}_ **

She placed her head on his shoulder and her fingers tickled his chest as she ran them through his chest hair. “I’m gonna sleep for nine hours straight now.”

“Right there with you.” He brushed his hand through her hair, the caress lazy. “How about we spend all day in bed tomorrow.” What a thought.

“If only.” She sighed and leaned her chin on his shoulder.

Damn Aschen. If it weren’t for them, they could do that. “Oh for cryin’ out loud, let’s take over Powhatan and bury their damn gate. Problem solved if they can’t get here anymore.”

Her breath caressed his cheek as she released a warm laugh. “We’d have to bury our Antarctica gate, too. And stop gate travel for the foreseeable future. Besides, their ships would be here within a few months.”

“Bummer.” He closed his eyes. “Would solve a lot of problems.”

“So it would.” She lay her head down on his shoulder again. Then suddenly she tensed. “Unless.” She jerked into a sitting position.

Jack opened his eyes and raised his eyebrows at her.

She stared at the tent wall, then at him. “Oh my God, Jack. You’re a genius.”

“I am?” What the hell had just happened?

She scrambled out of their sleeping bag and opened the drape to collect her clothes from the floor.

“Carter?” Reluctantly, he sat up.

“I have an idea.”

“Now?” He slapped his palms across his face. Damn. Next time, double orgasm. Triple. Enough to make her fall asleep right afterwards from exhaustion. “Can’t this wait until morning?”

“What’s the one thing the Aschen need to uphold their confederation of planets?”

He stared at her.

She shook her head. “I can’t believe we didn’t think of that before.”

“Think of what?”

But she’d already stormed out of the tent. Sighing, Jack reached for his shirt. So, no sleep yet after all. Hopefully, her idea—no, his idea, apparently—was worth it.


	42. Options

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> This version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).
> 
>  
> 
> Now you can also find an ebook version of this story on my website, including lots of bonus material as well as the first publication version of Stargate Aschen. (Click image to download.)  
> 
> 
>   
>  [](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-free-stargate-sg-1-ebook/)   
>    
> 

Yawning, Jack crossed the last meters to the science tent and entered. Carter and McKay debated while she scribbled some notes on a whiteboard in the corner.

Why the hell didn’t anybody at camp sleep anymore? It was past ten at night, for crying out loud. “Hey.”

Both scientists turned. Carter’s face lit up. “Sir. I just told McKay about your idea.”

“Swell.” He grimaced and rubbed his temples. “What idea was that again?”

“The Stargate, sir? You asked if we couldn’t just bury the Powhatan Stargate.” She looked at him as though that was supposed to make it any clearer.

“Right. But you said that’s not an option. So?”

“We don’t bury our gate. We’ll bury the one on the Aschen homeworld. In a manner of speaking.”

He blinked. Once. Twice. “Ah. And how did I suggest we do that?”

Her mouth tugged into a smile, her eyes twinkling. “You didn’t, sir.”

“Thought so.” God, his head pounded. He hadn’t had enough sleep for this line of discussion.

“But there is a pretty simple way.” She turned back to the board.

McKay scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Depends on your definition of simple.”

“Rodney, it’s not that hard. We took the dialing device apart once and—”

“Yeah, well, there’s a big difference between taking something apart and understanding how it works.”

“Not if we devote all our time to studying the gate. Besides, with the help of the Tok’ra, we might make faster progress. Don’t forget they know a lot more about gate technology than we do.” She scribbled on the white board again.

Jack yawned and sat down on one of the boxes. “Why don’t you two explain the details of what was apparently my idea?”

“Well, sir.” Carter turned to him again. “The idea is to shut down the Aschen gate.”

“By _burying_ it?”

“No, sir. A virus would do the trick.”

“A virus.” Interest sparked, he leaned forward. “Go on.”

“Sir, we know the Stargate is composed of two components. A gate, and the dialing device, which tells the gate where to open a wormhole. If we manage to write a virus to randomize the coordinates in their dialing device, we’ll disable their Stargate.”

Rodney folded his arms and rolled his eyes. “Or they’ll just manufacture their own dialing device.”

“Okay.” Sam looked at the whiteboard and tapped her lips with the pen. “What if we tackle the code in the Stargate?” She turned. “We saw it in the alternate universe. The other versions of us had assembled their own dialing device. That implies the core code has to be written directly into the gate. The dialing device is merely an input component. Like a computer keyboard.”

“Carter.” Jack got up and buried his hands in his pockets. “Didn’t you say in our tent that the Aschen would just come with ships if they can’t gate here anymore?”

“Yes, sir. I think they would. If we disabled our side of the gate.” She turned back to the whiteboard and drew an illustration. A large planet with lots of smaller planets around it. Then she pointed at the large one. “This is the Aschen homeworld. One of these small ones is Earth. Now, let’s presume we cut the connection to the gate here.” She erased the black line connecting Earth to the Aschen homeworld. “We’re cut off, and the Aschen will load a ship and get here as fast as they can. If on the other hand, we disable the gate on the Aschen homeworld…”

Jack leaned forward on the desk as she erased the lines to all of the planets. Damn, her plan was starting to sound intriguing.

“…they’ll be cut off from all of the worlds in the Aschen Confederation. Their entire society depends on their colonies. Their food and resource supply would be cut off. They have a few ships, but not nearly enough to re-establish contact to all their colonies. Or provide the population of an entire, completely overpopulated planet with enough food.”

Jack stared as her as she turned to him.

“I’m not saying it would be easy. But the colonies are essential to their way of life. What happens if you have a population of one hundred, but you only have enough supplies for ten of them?” She looked at Rodney, and then her gaze locked with Jack’s.

He straightened. That was one hell of a good idea. _If_ they could make it work. “Instability. Chaos. Riots and civil war.”

She nodded. “Maybe not that extreme, but I was thinking along those lines. If we disabled their Stargate beyond repair, they’d need all their remaining means of transport to supply their own population with the bare necessities. And probably prevent a war.”

Jack swallowed hard. “Carter.” The room spun a little when the immensity of her plan dawned on him. “Did you just come up with an idea to take down most of the Aschen Confederation?”

She cleared her throat. “Actually, you did, sir. In a way. And I don’t think it’ll take them down. It’ll destabilize them. Maybe give Earth and a few of the other border planets a chance to break free. It’s only a matter of time until they’d reestablish contact with some of the closer colonies. Maybe even transport a new Stargate from one of those planets onto their homeworld. But even then, they’d need a long time to repair the damage. It would give us a few months. Maybe a few years if we’re lucky. If we strengthened our alliance with the Tok’ra, we might have enough time to build a working defense.”

McKay had grown quiet as he studied the whiteboard. Jack raised his eyebrows. “All right. That’s all great in theory. Am I the only one concerned with the most obvious question here? How would we get a virus to their gate without infecting ours as well?”

“We could open a wormhole to the Aschen homeworld and send the program through.”

McKay shook his head. “That won’t work. The Stargates are connected and perform automated correlative updates.”

“Right.” She tapped the pen against her lips again. “No chance we could work around that?”

“This goes so deep into the machine code I don’t have the faintest clue where to start.”

“Anybody care to explain it?” Jack asked.

“Well, sir, we have the theory that the Stargates are interconnected by subspace, and they update on a periodic basis. That would mean, done wrong, our virus might infect every gate in the galaxy.”

He scratched his head. “Would that be so bad?”

“For starters, the Tok’ra wouldn’t be happy about that, sir. And let’s not forget a lot of races in our galaxy depend on the Stargate to survive. Not just the Aschen. Or the Goa’uld.”

“Right.” What was he thinking? Of course, that wasn’t an option. “Any other ideas?”

“I can think of only one way.” She put the pen down and flinched. “The part responsible for the correlative updates is the dialing device. Somebody would have to go to the Aschen homeworld, dial Earth, distribute the virus into their gate via the interface of the dialing device, and then plant a time-delayed bomb on it.”

Jack stared at her. “That’s…ambitious.”

McKay scoffed. “More like completely insane.”

Carter rolled her eyes. “I know it’s not easy. But the resistance has done riskier things in the past.”

“Not easy?” McKay shook his head. “We don’t even know if we could program a virus like that.”

“But what if we could?” she asked.

Jack pressed his hands against his forehead. The implications of their plan were immense. An operation like that couldn’t be conducted without the help of the other resistance cells anyway. So they had to take this one step at a time. “All right, I like the idea. Just the finer details need work. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though. You two do the research and see if you can write the program. Once that problem’s solved, we’ll look into the strategic parts.”

“You can’t be serious.” McKay gaped at him. “Colonel, that is by far the most dangerous, craziest, plan I’ve ever—”

“Which is exactly why I’m willing to try it.” He folded his arms. “We’re not gonna win this war by planting minor explosives and killing single Aschen Ministry officials. I’m not saying Carter’s plan doesn’t have flaws. But the basic idea has merit. If you two manage to write the program, I’ll take care of the rest.”

Carter beamed at him. “Thank you, sir.”

“I want you both to start working with the Tok’ra tomorrow. See what they know about the Stargate system that we don’t.”

“Yes, sir,” both of them said at once.

“But for now, sleep. Both of you.” Jack smirked. “Carter.”

“Yes, sir.” She put the pen down. “Good night, Rodney.”

When they were outside, she slipped a hand around his waist. “Thank you for the vote of confidence.”

“It’s a good idea. But we don’t have a working program yet.”

“Oh, we’ll succeed with the program. The gate is a huge computer system, which means it can be adjusted. I’ll find a way.”

Determination reflected on her face. He studied her for a long moment. Finding a way… Somehow, he had no doubt she’d manage to do just that. Suddenly, an Aschen-free Earth didn’t seem so unattainable anymore. 

 

***

 

“Colonel O’Neill.”

Jack looked up from the latest mission report from SG-3. A woman stood in the entrance, her silhouette barely visible in the bright daylight that flooded into the tent.

“I wanted to get some of the artifact reports you promised to let me look at.”

The tent flap closed. One of the female Tok’ra. He’d forgotten her name. “Sure…um…”

“Freya. I am host to Anise.” She gave him a broad smile and approached his desk with swinging hips. “You met her three days ago at the Tok’ra briefing.”

“Yeah. Of course.” Jack cleared his throat. Unease overcame him. As it always did when he was in the company of one of those…Tok’ra, and no one else was around. He was never sure who he was talking to—and if there was really a difference between the snake and the host. Except for Jacob. Maybe. “Did you settle in?”

“Yes. We finished building the tunnels two days ago. We will have to talk about the food rations, though. Symbiotes do not respond well to what you call, um, botapoes.”

“Potatoes. Unfortunately our food options are limited, but I could offer you more rice instead.”

“That will be acceptable.”

“Great. I’ll arrange for it.”

He swallowed uncomfortably when Anise held his gaze. A gentle smile played around her lips.

He cleared his throat and got up. “Let’s see if I can find you those reports.” He rounded the desk and walked over to some boxes. “These hold all the artifact reports of the past couple of years. There are more in one of the science-storage tents. You’ll have to ask Daniel, um, Dr. Jackson about those.”

“Actually, I’d prefer to talk to you about them. The Tok’ra think that in the spirit of good relations, we should form bonds of friendship with select humans.”

“Do they now?” Did it have to be him? Another one of those things he’d have to discuss with Jacob. Selmak. Whoever. Frowning, he searched through the boxes and picked up a few files. “Why don’t you take these for now, and I’ll see to it the rest are delivered to—”

When she pressed up against him, he froze, his breath lodging in his throat. Her warm lips touched his. His stomach knotted. _Snake… Snake, snake, snake, snake…_

The files hit the floor. He grabbed the young woman’s arms and gently pushed her a few inches away from him. Out of his personal space.

She tilted her head and studied him in apparent confusion. “I am sorry. I did not mean to overwhelm you. Is this not how humans on your planet express their affection for somebody?”

“No…yes…” _God._ He raked his hand through his hair. Affection? What the hell had just happened? Anise—or Freya—bent down and picked up the files from the floor. He took a few steps back towards the desk. “Actually, it depends.”

“On what?” She straightened and smiled at him.

“On…the kind of affection…and whether it’s welcome.”

“You are uncomfortable.”

Wasn’t she sharp? “A little.” He shifted from one foot to the other.

“I am sorry, Colonel. On my homeworld, people are not afraid to show their emotions openly. I should not have surprised you.”

“Ya think?” Jack flinched and took another step back when Freya approached him. “Listen, why don’t you, you know, work with those files for now? Once you’ve done that, I’ll send someone with the rest—”

“Is there somebody else you are loyal to?”

“Well, yeah.” Wait, what did that have to do with anything? “That’s not really the point. I’m not interested in—”

He groaned when Freya crossed the distance between them. Her palms brushed his arms, and her warm, lush lips grazed his. Every muscle in his body tensed. He wanted to take another step back, but a box blocked his way. His hands shot up to grab the woman’s shoulders.

“Oh…my God.” A female voice drifted from the door. Jack urged Freya away from him. Carter stared at them, pale.

Freya gave him a courteous nod, then turned and smiled at Sam before she left the tent. Damn snake. What the hell was wrong with those people? Jumping him and then walking out as though something like that was common courtesy among the Tok’ra.

He stared at Carter. “Sam.”

She swallowed visibly. “I-I-I’m sorry. Sir. I didn’t mean to…” She straightened, walked up to his desk and threw a file down. “Here’s our daily report about our progress on developing the virus. _Sir._ ”

With those words, she turned and marched out of the tent.

_Oh, crap._

_***_

Jaw clenched, Sam had to focus all her energy on not stumbling on the uneven ground. She hurried up the hill to her science tent. Why the hell had _she_ apologized? She’d done nothing wrong—except maybe entering without announcing her presence.

Her gut wrenched. Jack had kissed the Tok’ra. All this time, she’d thought…

She swallowed against the knot in her throat. Anger took over. He’d better have a damn good explanation for what she’d just seen. She threw aside the canvas that covered the entrance.

McKay looked up. “Back so soon? What did he say?”

“Who?”

He rolled his eyes. “Colonel O’Neill. About the report.”

“Nothing.” _He was too busy shoving his tongue down another woman’s throat._ She sat down at her desk and focused on the computer screen, ignoring the sting in her chest.

The tent flap opened and Jack entered. “Carter, I need to talk to you.”

She didn’t look at him.

“Sam, please.”

“I have a lot of work at the moment.”

“McKay. Can you leave us alone for a coupla minutes?”

McKay cleared his throat. “Sure. I wanted to grab a sandwich from the food tent anyway.”

Damn traitor. She closed her eyes as McKay left the tent.

“Sam.”

She glared at him. “What?”

“I didn’t kiss her.”

Of all the things she’d expected, this wasn’t it. She folded her arms and cocked her head. Really? He was gonna use that routine? “What do you call it? A mission briefing?”

“She…she just jumped me. I told her I’m not interested. Well, I tried, but before I could finish, she kinda had her lips on mine and—”

“And what?” She jumped from her chair. “Your close combat skills aren’t good enough to defend yourself against unwelcome advances from a woman?”

He swallowed visibly and flinched without a word.

“Jack?”

“Oh, for cryin’ out loud. She’s got a freaking snake in her head and she had her mouth on mine. For all I know, the damn thing could’ve jumped over if I did something wrong.” He scratched his fingers through his hair and paced up and down the room.

His reasoning was so ridiculous she couldn’t even be mad anymore. No way he’d made that up. If he’d wanted to come up with an excuse, surely it would’ve been better than that.

She pressed her lips together, but failed to stifle a giggle. Her shoulders shook as she broke into soft laughter.

“Carter.” He looked hurt. “That’s not funny.”

“Yes, it is.” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, and then crossed the distance and wrapped her arms around him. Jack O’Neill, the tough, hard-assed soldier who dealt with criminals as though they were nothing to be afraid of, scared of a woman with a symbiote in her head. “I’m sorry, I should’ve known.”

“Come on.” He frowned at her. “Don’t tell me you’re comfortable with those people.”

She hid her face against his shoulder and let out another giggle.

He wrapped his arms around her, his face burying in her neck. “For the record, you’re the woman I wanna be with. Exclusive and all.”

Warmth flooded her. She met his gaze. Red lipstick lined his lips. She bit her cheek. “Did you tell her that?”

“Yes. Didn’t seem to bother her much though.” He sighed and looked around. “How’s the program going?”

“I just put the report on your desk.” She turned and looked at her computer. “We’re not making much progress so far, sir.”

“Carter, it’s only been four days. You’ll get there.” He dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “I’m gonna go brush my teeth. I feel like I’ve got snake all over me.”

 

***

 

_Two weeks later_

Jack stretched with a yawn as he approached his personal tent. God, he hoped things would return to normal at camp soon. The new recruits would be designated to their cells in a few weeks. Then things should calm down. Provided the Tok’ra managed to settle in.

He opened the tent flap and glanced at the bed. Carter lay under the blanket. Thank God, she was here already.

“There you are. I was looking all over the place for you.”

No answer.

“Sam?”

He opened the drape. His eyebrows climbed. She was snuggled under the covers, eyes closed peacefully. Books and files lay scattered across the entire bed, covering her chest, her legs, and his side of the sleeping bag. One book pressed to her chest, she still had her fingers between the pages. He knelt down and carefully pulled a file away.

“Sam.” Two more books landed on the box that served as a nightstand. He nuzzled her cheek and brought his lips to her ear. “Ensign Carter.” Just a tad bit louder.

Her eyes snapped open. “Oh.” She looked down at herself and lifted the book in her hand. “God. I fell asleep.”

“Yeah.” He waved around. “Didn’t we have a deal? Something about a three-book-maximum rule in our personal tent?”

She flinched and sat up, picking up a few papers and files. “I’m sorry. I didn’t expect you to turn in so early. What time is it?”

“Eleven.”

Her eyes widened. Apparently, she’d been sleeping for quite a while. Guilt stabbed at him. Maybe he shouldn’t have woken her. She’d pulled too many all-nighters during the past two weeks.

She picked out two books and a file and handed the rest to him. “Here… these I still need.”

“Carter.” He drawled her name. “Give it a rest. You’re exhausted. They’ll still be here tomorrow.”

“You don’t understand.” She dropped back onto her pillow, looking miserable. Jack slid under the covers and drew her against him.

“What?”

“This technology—the Stargates—they’re so far beyond anything we’ve ever seen. I thought I knew a lot about Stargate technology.”

“You do. More than any other human. Except McKay.”

“I know nothing. I don’t have the slightest clue how the most basic functions work. It’s like an entirely new form of math I can’t make heads or tails off.” She covered her face with her hand.

“Hey.” Jack dropped a kiss against her hairline. “It was a good idea, but if it’s not possible, we can’t help it. No expectations. Not even the Aschen know that much about the gates.”

“But I want it to work.” Her jaw clenched. Oh, that damn scientist pride of hers. “I wish I had someone who could explain this to me. Jolinar has worked with us the past few days, but even to her it made no sense.”

“Saaam.” He pulled the file out of her hand and dropped it onto the two books next to her. “You’ve worked on this for the past coupla weeks. You think you’re gonna be able to solve this if you’re overtired? You need a good night’s sleep.”

“What I need is a breakthrough.” Sighing, she turned to him and buried her face against his chest. “This could be it, I feel it. I want this to work out so much.”

Jack wrapped his arms around her and spilled gentle kisses down her neck. A sigh escaped her, and her breath warmed his throat. He smiled. “You gotta relax.”

His hand rested on her thigh and he pulled her closer. Her breath hitched, as she laid her leg across his and moved closer against him. Jack groaned when her warm lips kissed his throat and collarbone. Her lips tickled his chest.

“Sam, whatcha doing?”

“Taking my mind off things.” A twinkle danced in her eyes.

“Well, I can help you with that.”

She giggled when he rolled her over on her back. He’d make sure she’d shut her brain off completely. At least for now.

 

***

 

_Three days later_

“It’s not gonna work.” McKay dropped the pen and slumped down into his chair.

“Well, there is no other way. This _has_ to work.” Sam studied the whiteboard. The code was correct. And yet, the simulations produced an error. Why? “I just don’t see any flaw in the code.”

“I give up.”

Sighing, Sam dropped down onto a box, her gaze never leaving the board. He was right. This really wasn’t going to work, was it? They were out of options. Damn.

“Oh my…” Jack’s voice drifted from the entrance. She lifted her head. Brows raised, he looked around. “There’s a distinct lack of optimism in this tent.”

She managed a weak smile. “We’ve reached a dead end, sir.” Her father entered behind Jack. “Dad.”

“Hey, kiddo.”

Ever since his blending, he’d spent half of his time at camp, and the other half in the Tok’ra underground tunnels. And he seemed to have mellowed out quite a bit.

She got up from the box. Damn, she’d had a lunch date with Jack and her dad. “Is it noon already?”

“Actually, it’s past noon.” Jack glanced at his watch. “We waited for fifteen minutes, then we decided we’d drop by. See how it’s going. You know, wave a watch around.” Smirking, he strolled over to her and dropped a soft kiss on her forehead. “I told him he’d have better chances at having dinner with you, but he wouldn’t believe me.”

She flinched at her father. “Sorry, dad.” Then she put the pen down. “We’re done here.”

“Done?” Jack glanced from her to McKay.

“Yeah.” The other scientist nodded. “Colonel, there’s no way we can write this program. We don’t even understand the math behind it, and in all this time we’ve worked on it, we haven’t been able to make any progress.”

Jacob cleared his throat. “That’s a pity. Jolinar just convinced the Tok’ra council of the merit of your plan. They assured their support.”

Sam shook her head. “It would take years to understand the basic code.”

“Okay.” Jack studied the whiteboard. Sam doubted it made any sense to him. “Anything we could, you know, acquire to make this possible?”

“Honestly?” McKay straightened. “What we need is somebody to help with this. So unless you can find a living ancient, there’s no way we’ll get this done. Not without years, maybe decades of research.”

Jack sighed. “It was a good plan people. You can make it a long-term project.”

“Actually… There’s someone else who might be able to help,” her father said.

Sam’s heart jumped as she turned to him. “Who?”

“He’s not really an ancient, but according to Selmak he knows how to manipulate and reprogram Stargates.”

“Who?” Jack repeated her question.

“You’re not gonna like this, Jack.”

“Oh for cryin’ out loud, will you just spill it?”

Her father’s face grew serious. “Ba’al.”


	43. Deal With The Devil

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> This version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).
> 
>  
> 
> Now you can also find an ebook version of this story on my website, including lots of bonus material as well as the first publication version of Stargate Aschen. (Click image to download.)  
> 
> 
>   
>  [](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-free-stargate-sg-1-ebook/)   
>    
> 

“Over my dead body.” Jack folded his arms.

“Sir.” Next to him, Carter shifted.

He turned to her. “Carter. Need I remind you what happened last time we ran into this slimy, arrogant son of a—”

“What exactly _did_ happen?” Jacob asked from his other side.

Carter’s eyes widened. He cleared his throat and turned. No need to tell Jacob the details. “Let’s just say our last run-in with him wasn’t exactly pleasant.”

“Sir.” Carter held his gaze. “If he knows enough about the gate to help us make this happen—”

“You can’t be serious. I won’t let that damn snaky overlord anywhere near you—us—again. I don’t care if he could save us from the Aschen.”

“Colonel,” Rodney said.

Jack scowled at him. “Let’s not forget the Goa’uld are our enemies. Has it occurred to anyone that they’d take right over as soon as the Aschen are gone?”

“Actually, sir, as far as we know every Aschen planet is equipped with defense systems capable of destroying an entire fleet of attacking Goa’uld motherships. So none of the planets would be defenseless,” Carter said.

“She’s right,” Jacob said. “The Aschen colonies are far from helpless even if the Aschen are gone.”

Him too? Jack stared at Jacob. “Shouldn’t you of all people be against this?”

“The Tok’ra have made temporary alliances with Goa’uld against other system lords in the past.”

Jack cocked up his eyebrows. “Oh?”

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Temporarily at least,” Jacob said.

“Oh for cryin’ out loud.” Jack rolled his eyes.

Carter cleared her throat. “Sir, it’d be huge if we managed to write the program with Ba’al’s help. We could free Earth of the Aschen.”

“And replace them with a damn snaky system lord?” She couldn’t be serious. “Need I remind you, those Goa’uld don’t really help people out of the kindness of their heart. If he agreed to help us, he’d probably make demands in return. Especially once he learns of this whole Tau’ri deal.”

“We wouldn’t tell him everything. Defeating the Aschen would actually be useful to him. Tok’ra intelligence just got word that he lost one of his ships in an attempt to conquer one of their worlds,” Jacob said. “I’m sure he’d be willing to negotiate the finer details of an agreement.”

Carter held his gaze, her blue eyes pleading. McKay looked at him expectantly. God, he had to be crazy to even consider this. “Let’s assume for a moment I said yes. How would we contact him?”

Jacob rubbed his forehead. “The Tok’ra have a few operatives in the higher ranks of Ba’al’s Jaffa. We could arrange for a meeting on a neutral world.”

“We could even work there.” Sam turned and looked around at the devices in the tent. “We could easily pack up the equipment we need. Ba’al wouldn’t have to set foot on Earth. He’d never learn where we’re from, and the location as well as Earth’s gate address would remain a secret.”

Jack released another sigh and glanced from Carter, to McKay, to Jacob. Alright, neutral world. Maybe even gate there with two or three stations in between. Apparently everyone had made up their mind and decided it’d be worth the risk.

“Sir. If we succeed in compiling a working virus, we’d have a real chance against the Aschen. For the first time since the resistance existed.”

He held his breath and finally let out a low groan. “Fine, I’ll consider it. Secret location. Of our choosing. Limited personnel. Absolute confidentiality.” He frowned at Jacob. “This is far from a done deal. I don’t wanna risk a single one of my men—or women—in this operation.”

“I’m sure that can be arranged. I’ll propose it to the Tok’ra council, and we’ll see if we can work together and contact Ba’al.”

“Carter.” Jack turned. “I want you and McKay to review the files of our missions and find suitable, uninhabited planets that could be used as transfer points.”

“Yes, sir.” She beamed at him. His heart skipped a beat, and his mouth tugged into a smile.

Had he gone nuts to even consider this?

 

***

 

Sand. Nothing but sand. Why the hell were half the planets in the galaxy covered in sand? Surely Carter’d have an explanation. If she were here.

He’d insisted that she not be with them. Not until they’d cleared the deal. Jack sat up straight and watched Daniel pace up and down a few meters away.

“So when’s this guy supposed to show up?” He glanced at Jacob.

“An hour ago.”

“Swell.” Didn’t that say something about how important Ba’al thought the agreement was?

“Be patient, Jack. He’s trying to assert his importance. It’s a classic Goa’uld method.”

“More like a god taking pity on lowly subjects by finally listening to their pleas.”

“Something like that,” Jacob said.

“I’m not gonna kowtow to him if that’s what you want. Not after he… not after what happened last time.” Jaw clenched, Jack stood up.

“Care to elaborate on that? You and Sam were weird about that before.”

“He targeted her. Let’s leave it at that. I promised her, next time I saw him I’d shoot the guy. And now we gotta strike a deal with him. I’m telling you, that snake makes one wrong move, and I’m gonna…”

He trailed off when suddenly, out of nowhere, rings appeared from the ground in front of the gate. So the Goa'uld was here with his ship.  Another one of those surprises he wasn’t particularly fond of.

He grabbed his P-90. Four Jaffa warriors appeared in a bright light, Ba’al in their midst, chin raised and arms folded. His eyes glowed when he spotted Jacob, then Jack and Daniel.

Jack’s clenched his teeth. They should’ve brought an army.

“Jaffa, kree.”

“Ah.” Jack pointed his P-90 at him. “No Jaffa kree.”

“Jack,” Daniel said next to him.

“Daniel?”

“Kree is just a general call to attention.”

He glanced at the archeologist who pushed his glasses up on his nose. Anger welled up inside him. Oh for cryin’ out loud, why had he ever agreed to this crazy plan? Reluctantly, he dropped his P-90.

Ba’al walked down the stone steps. “I have received your message, Tok’ra.” His eyes narrowed as he studied Jack. Then his eyes glowed. “You.”

Jack snapped up the weapon again and aimed right at his chest. “Make one wrong move and you’ll regret the day you were born.”

“Jack,” Jacob said.

As Jack turned his head, the older man studied him, a demanding expression on his face. _Oh, for crying out loud._ He let the P-90 sink back down to his hip.

Ba’al gave an arrogant smirk as he stepped up in front of them. His gaze lingered on Jack for an instant, then he turned to Jacob. “Have you called me here to give me those insolent humans as a gift, Tok’ra?”

“No.” Jacob’s face remained hard, but he straightened. “We have asked you here to propose a temporary alliance.”

Ba’al studied him and then broke out into resounding laughter.

Jack growled. “Oh, knock it off.”

Daniel stepped forward and lifted his hand. “We know you’re at war with the Aschen. We might have a way of defeating them, but we can’t do it alone. Since we have mutual goals, a cooperation would benefit both you and us.”

Ba’al folded his arms behind his back. “I am not interested in your pitiful plan.”

Jack took a breath to say something, but Daniel lifted his hand again, making him falter.

“Now, hold on,” Daniel said. “We wish to disable the Aschen Stargate by writing a virus into the core code. Our experts have worked on the code for weeks, with the help of the Tok’ra. But so far, we’ve failed. We thought you might be able to help.”

“What would I get out of it?”

“Excuse me?” Jack put his fingers to his temple. “I thought he just explained that. The Aschen are your enemy. We will disable their Stargate. Ever heard of the saying _the enemy of my enemy is my friend_? Cliché, I know, but—”

“Rewriting the Stargate code is a lot of work. It would require several weeks,” Ba’al said.

Daniel nodded. “Yes, we figured. We propose setting up a temporary workshop on a neutral world where we could work.”

“Dakara.” Ba’al looked from Daniel to Jacob.

Jacob folded his arms. “No. Under no circumstances. Dakara is in your territory. It is not a neutral world.”

“Then you will have to find somebody else to write your virus.”

“Obviously, you have not understood how this works,” Jacob said. “We are looking for an ally. Said ally would be the first to know of the Aschen’s weakness. But you are not the only Goa’uld system lord with advanced knowledge of the Stargate system. Maybe we should talk to Nirrti instead.” He turned away from him.

“Wait.” Ba’al’s deep voice echoed deep in his throat. “You say you want a temporary alliance. Dakara has many ancient technologies that might be of help in understanding the Stargate code. It is an uninhabited world, and it possesses a Stargate. I give you my word, no harm will come to you on Dakara. I cannot vouch for your safety on a world outside my territory.”

Jack scrunched his eyebrows. Vouching for their safety?

Jacob cleared his throat. “What assurance can you give us that you will not betray us?”

“I will allow two of you on my world. Unarmed. Equally, four Jaffa will also remain to serve me. Along with two of my Lo’taur. You will not be harmed. I will help you program a virus. Under the condition that you notify me once you distribute it on the Aschen homeworld, so I can ready my fleet.”

Jacob nodded. “Those are acceptable conditions.”

They were? Jack raised his eyebrows at him. Then he turned to Ba’al. “Listen, all hard feelings between us aside, I will not let my people be unarmed around you.”

“Jack…”

“Daniel. I won’t let anybody near this guy without proper defense.”

Ba’al’s eyes glowed. “Rest assured, human, if I wanted to kill you, your weapons would not present a challenge to me.”

“See, it’s not the killing I’m concerned about. It’s more the whole snake-in-the-head-kinda-deal.” Jack tensed. “My words stand. Either we’re allowed weapons on your planet, or the deal’s off.”

The system lord studied him, and then finally conceded with a gracious hand gesture. “Fine. As you wish. Rest assured, my Jaffa are still a match for your weapons.”

“Yes, well…” Jack shrugged. “If you do something to us, you’ll have to get the virus to the Aschen Stargate yourself. I’m sure it wouldn’t be a problem for you. Oh, wait. That’s right. The Aschen have defense systems in place that recognize Goa’uld presence as soon as you enter the vicinity of the gate.”

Ba’al’s face darkened. “Insolence.”

Jack decided to ignore him. “Here’s how we’ll do it. We’ll work in shifts. Ten hours each day. We’ll arrive in the morning and leave at sunset. You’ll allow four of us on the planet, two humans, two Tok’ra. You know, just for security.”

The Goa’uld looked increasingly uncooperative. Apparently, he didn’t like being bossed around. Jack had to hide a smirk. Yeah, well, bad luck. Neither did he.

“The Tok’ra are enemies of mine,” Ba’al said.

“Well, at least for the moment, they’re allies of us. So, what’s more important to you? Attacking the Aschen? Or clinging to your pride?”

The Goa’uld stared at him for a moment, his eyes flaring as though he wanted to kill Jack right there. Then he closed his eyes and folded his arms. “I agree to your conditions. When do you wish to begin working?”

Jack glanced at Jacob and Daniel. That has almost been too easy. Were they willing to trust the system lord just like that? No way wouldn’t Ba’al try double-crossing them.

He’d have to prepare a coupla surprises.

 

***

 

Dakara. A red, rocky desert with a single temple at its center. Sam looked up at the heavy wooden door that led into the inner sanctum. She took a deep breath. Why had she agreed so willingly to go on this mission? McKay had been smart. As always when it came to dangerous missions, he’d immediately stepped back, saying he had too much work at camp as it was. Such a coward.

“Hey.” Jack gave her shoulder a soft squeeze. “You don’t have to do this. We can still abort this if you don’t—”

“No.” Hopefully her voice didn’t tremble as much as she thought. Jack had wanted McKay on this mission. Not because of skills, but because he didn’t want her anywhere near Ba’al, that much he’d told her a couple of nights ago. She straightened and fixated the door with her eyes. “I have to do this.”

“All right.” A tender smile played around his lips. “Jacob, Martouf, or I will always be with you. No need to be nervous.” He leaned in and rested his forehead against hers. “I’ll have your back.”

“I know.” She lifted her chin. For the first time since they’d been captured by Ba’al, she’d stand face to face with him. The man who’d almost raped her, who’d humiliated her in the most degrading way. She closed her eyes. She had to leave those feelings behind. For the sake of their program. For Earth. She swallowed hard, then nodded. “Let’s go.”

His hand grazed hers. He didn’t openly hold her hand, and yet the occasional butterfly touch provided an odd comfort. There was no need to be nervous. Jack would have her back in this.

As they stepped through the large doorway, the light grew dimmer. Moisture permeated the air. Two Jaffa warriors waited at the end of the long corridor. She shivered against the sudden drop in temperature.

The Jaffa led them through another corridor to a larger room with a large stone table in the middle. A dialing device stood next to it.

She jumped when the heavy stone door slammed shut behind them. Trapped… Her gaze raced over to her father and Martouf, who took positions left and right of the door. She’d been more comfortable with Jolinar being there. Over the past weeks that they’d worked together, she’d gotten to know the female Tok’ra rather well. But according to the Tok’ra council, Jolinar wasn’t available for this mission.

Sam walked to the stone table and placed her laptop and some smaller devices on it. Then she turned to Jack, who hadn’t left her side.

“This place isn’t very comfortable.”

“Yeah, well… those snakes don’t seem to know how to live in style.” He gave her a ghost of a smirk, and she released a soft chuckle.

Both turned when the door at the far end of the room opened. Ba’al entered, followed by a tall young woman. Her short, blonde hair was styled in a similar fashion to Sam’s. The woman didn’t lift her eyes as she followed the system lord to the middle of the room.

Sam’s blood ran cold. _Oh God, one of his slaves._ The kind of slave he’d wanted to make _her_. Her stomach turned. Jack’s warm palm on the small of her back made her catch herself.

Jaw clenched, she met Ba’al’s gaze. His eyes gleamed, cold and relentless, and yet a smile played around his mouth. “I had hoped to see you again.”

“Why don’t we stick to why we’re here?” Jack said. “Carter’s our lead scientist when it comes to Stargate matters. The virus was her idea.”

“I am impressed.” The Goa’uld raised his eyebrows. “Although I am not surprised you did not manage to figure it out. Your inferior human brains are hardly designed to—“

“Oh cut the crap, will ya?” Jack placed his hands on the table and leaned forward. “We got a deal. You help us, we help you. Once the virus is complete, we’re outta here.”

He locked gazes with Ba’al, and for a moment the Goa’uld looked as though he wanted to challenge him. Then he nodded his head in a gracious gesture and half-turned to point at the woman behind him. “This is my Lo’taur, Shallan. She will provide us with everything we need while we are here.” He studied Sam, an unreadable expression on his face.

She lifted her chin. She would not back down from him anymore. Even though he claimed to be a God, he was just another man with a superiority complex. And she’d learned to defend herself against his type. He wasn’t any different from Tim Hanson, or Reddington’s weapon smugglers; he just came with a larger ego.

She opened her laptop and unpacked the chords to connect her system with the dialing device. “I assume your dialing device is connected to your Stargate.”

“That is correct.”

His gaze lingered on her as she plugged the chords into her laptop. “On our homeworld, we interfaced with the dialing device to gain access to the gate’s machine code. If it’s all right with you, I’d like to do the same here.”

“Of course.”

She kneeled down and opened the main panel of the device. Slowly, her tension dissipated. This was her element, and the work gave her a chance to take her mind of what might happen. Besides, Jack, Martouf and her dad were always in the room with her.

She blew out a short breath and walked back to the table. Then she switched on her laptop. The screen flickered, and after a few seconds, tens of thousands of lines, all zeroes and ones, appeared. Machine code in its barest form.

Ba’al strolled around the table and came to a halt next to her. Immediately, his sweet scent reached her nostrils. Still the same scent as he’d worn when he’d held her captive in his quarters. Her stomach turned, and she swallowed hard.

“Show me what you have done so far, human.”

“Hey,” Jack said from her other side. “She’s got a name, you know.”

Ba’al eyed him with obvious amusement. He’d obviously meant to rub him the wrong way. Sam narrowed her eyes. So he wanted to push their buttons, did he? She turned to Jack. “It’s all right, sir. It’s just superficial pleasantries. Why don’t we get to work?”

Jack looked ready to shoot the Goa’uld, and Ba’al seemed to want to provoke him. Probably so that he’d have a reason to break his end of the deal. Better to stick to the problem at hand.

She turned back to the screen. “We’ve been able to decipher the header of the program so far, but most of the other stuff is a mystery to us. This code doesn’t seem to define any functions or variables in the header. We couldn’t make heads or tails of it.”

Ba’al scoffed. “Well, that’s hardly surprising.” He urged her aside and leaned forward to study the screen. “I know you humans think you’re smart, but you really haven’t a clue about what you’re dealing with.”

“Which is why we made the deal with you.” She made sure to put a sharp edge into her voice. “Though frankly, you don’t seem to be the brightest light in the room either. After all, you claim to have the necessary knowledge, yet in all these decades it never occurred to you to target the Aschen Stargate with a virus.”

From the corner of her eye she caught sight of Jack’s smirk. Ba’al straightened. His eyes glowed as he glared at her.

She gave him a sardonic smile. “Why don’t we stop accusing each other of our shortcomings and focus on the task at hand?”

Ba’al’s gaze wandered to Jack. “Do you not have any control over your women on your world?”

“Actually, we don’t need to ascertain our power by making our women weak.”

A lie. Most of their culture wasn’t really welcoming towards female knowledge, thanks to the Aschen laws. But Ba’al didn’t have to know that.

Ba’al took a deep breath and then bent forward to study the code again. “This may take a while.”

“We expected that,” Sam said.

“I will arrange for quarters for you and your friends.”

“Oh, don’t kid yourself, Ba’al.” Jack waved around with his P-90. “There’s no way we’re gonna make camp on this planet.”

“As you wish. But you might have to travel back and forth for several weeks.”

“Not a problem.”

 

***

 

_One week later_

He had never been so bored in his life. For the millionth time, Jack sighed and pulled his cap off. This damn stone bench could use some cushions. Overall, a makeover of the room wouldn’t be a bad idea. A little paint. Some drapes. Maybe some more furniture.

In the middle of the room, Sam leaned on the stone table and studied a screen, head on her hands. Ba’al stood at the opposite end and did the same. During the past week, they’d made slow progress. The Goa’uld still made occasional stabs at him, but overall he had apparently chosen to forget their hostilities for now.

Still, he knew better than to trust that snake. As soon as they’d succeeded, Ba’al would probably try to backstab them.

The door opened. Martouf strolled inside, looked around, and then his face lit up when he spotted Jack. Jack rolled into a sitting position and put his cap back on his head.

“Marty. How’s things outside?”

“We did not run into any trouble.” Lantash, Martouf’s host. Maybe it was a bad sign, but Jack got used to the deep, reverberating voice and the personality changes. “Selmak sent me with a message. He will have to go back to clear some things with the Tok’ra council. He will be back by tomorrow.”

“Ah.” Jack nodded. “Problems I should know about?”

“Internal Tok’ra matters.”

He studied Martouf—or Lantash—with narrowed eyes. When the Tok’ra used the word internal, it didn’t necessarily mean that it didn’t affect camp, or Earth. Those people didn’t seem to understand the concept of teamwork. Or an alliance. But Martouf wouldn’t tell him anything, and at this distance he couldn’t really keep an eye on matters at camp.

Sheppard would take care of any problems. He glanced at his watch and sighed. “Another two hours and we’ll be done for today.”

“Maybe it would be simpler if we took Ba’al up on his offer and slept here on Dakara.”

Jack pierced him with his gaze. “If you wanna stay, be my guest. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t trust these people farther than I can throw them. And I’d hate to wake up with one of those snakes in my head. No offense.”

The Tok’ra smiled. “None taken.” Apparently Martouf’d gotten used to his sense of humor. “I’ll meet you at the gate once we’re done here.” Martouf turned and strolled out of the room, apparently not uncomfortable at all anymore.

Of course, he didn’t have to be afraid of having a damn snake put in his head, seeing that he already had one. Besides, as long as the program wasn’t finished, Ba’al sorta needed them. Unfortunately, they needed him as well.

“No, no, no, this is incorrect. Woman, did I not just tell you that _this_ is the line of code you need to work on?”

“I think this one will allow us to work around this entire subroutine.”

Brows raised, Jack turned to the center of the room. Ba’al and Carter debated heatedly. Every muscle in his body tensed. He rested his fingers near the handgun at his belt. Just to be safe. Not that these discussions were a rarity.

“I know where you come from you are considered relatively smart, but up until a week ago you couldn’t even decipher this code. Why don’t you stick to doing what you are told?”

Carter slammed her hands down on the table and glared at the Goa’uld. “Are you just this condescending because I’m a human? Or is it because I’m a woman?”

Jack rose from the bench and gripped his P-90. He wouldn’t take any chances with that guy. Not after their experiences with him.

“Both, if you must know. If you wish to do everything your way, you do not need my help anymore, do you?” He straightened and glowered at her.

Carter put her hands on her hips. “We had a deal.”

“You are insolent and obnoxious. I should make you my slave and put you in your place.”

Okay, that was enough. He was about to intervene when Carter lunged forward and punched Ba’al so hard he stumbled backwards and landed on his ass.

_So that’s that then._ Jack relaxed with a grin. Served the guy right.

“If you’re not gonna help, then you’re really not of much use. And if you’re of no use, I might as well kill you.” She pulled the handgun she wore at her belt and pointed it at him. “Now you have two choices. You can concentrate on the job without those derogatory comments, or I’ll shoot you right here and now.”

Hands in his pockets, Jack strolled towards the table. “Problems, kids?”

Ba’al’s head snapped around to him. “What kind of stupid question is that? Get your woman under control.”

“You know, I’ve voted for shooting you from the start.” Jack walked over to the laptop and studied the screen. “She voted against it because she said we still need you. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t care if she shoots you, tortures you, or cuts off your man parts. No, that’s not exactly right. I do care. I’m all for it.”

“You cannot be serious.”

“I can. I just choose not to be. Most of the time.” He straightened and looked down at the Goa’uld.

Ba’al’s face darkened. “If I yell for my Jaffa, you will be surrounded within seconds.”

“True. They’d start shooting. We’d be forced to defend ourselves. People’d get hurt, possibly killed. There’d be hard feelings. Oh, and you wouldn’t get rid of the Aschen for a long, long time. So, correct me if I’m wrong but you need us as much as we need you.”

Ba’al closed his eyes and released a long, deep breath. “Very well.” He smiled at Sam. “I’d be delighted to give your plan a try.”

“Glad to hear it.” She holstered the gun at her side and turned back to the table. Grumbling, Ba’al got up from the ground and brushed some dust off his pants.

Smirking, Jack leaned in to her. “Seems like you don’t need me here anymore?”

“Don’t you dare leave me alone with him.” She glanced at him and relief flashed across her face when she recognized he was joking.

“How are things progressing?”

“Slowly.” She looked at the screen. “But we’re making progress, sir. Another couple of weeks and we should have a working virus.”

“A couple of weeks?” He stared at her. Great… two more weeks of boredom. With nothing to do but stare at those plain rocky walls. “Anything I can do to help?”

“Well, sir, we’ll need to reprogram a few subroutines in the original gate code to randomize the sequence of coordinates every time an address is dialed.”

“So, no?” He raised his brows at her.

She let out a soft chuckle. “No, sir, sorry.”

Damn. He couldn’t really bring any reports here either. Not without giving up vital information about Earth, or Earth’s location. “That’s fine… I’ll find something to do.”

Or maybe he’d just go nuts.

 

***

 

_10 days later_

“You can’t do that.” Jack looked up from the chessboard.

Martouf raised his eyebrows. “Why not?”

“Because you can’t move the knight that way.”

“Why not?”

“Oh for cryin’ out loud. Because it’s the rules of the game.” Why had he ever thought that playing chess against Martouf would be a good idea?

“Fine, how about I move the tower there.”

“Technically, yes. But that’s not the tower, that’s the bishop.”

“Well, where are my towers?”

“You lost ‘em.” He missed playing this game with Carter. At least she presented a challenge. Sighing he looked to the center of the room. Both Carter and Ba’al sat bent over a screen. Still working. As they had been the past weeks.

The door opened and Jacob entered.

“Jake.” Jack jumped up, and the board tumbled to the ground.

Shaking his head, Martouf bent down and collected all the playing pieces. “This game is most trivial. I do not see the purpose.”

“The purpose is winning by using logic and correctly assessing your opponent’s next move.” Jack grinned at him. “I thought the Tok’ra were good in using logic.”

“Logic, yes. Limiting our measures by putting restrictions on what playing piece is allowed to move where, no.”

Jacob raised his brows. “Chess?”

“Yeah. I tried giving Marty here a lesson, but apparently he thinks the game’s a waste of time.” He smirked and stuck his hands in his pockets. “So what’s up?”

“The Tok’ra just wanted to discuss a few issues.”

“Care to elaborate?”

“Nothing interesting, just internal matters.”

“Right.” Jack shifted. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, just like they had the past coupla days when Jacob had mentioned the council meetings he suddenly had to attend. Something was going on. He had a bad feeling, and usually those intuitions weren’t wrong. “Care for a game?”

“Actually I was hoping to have dinner first.”

Dinner. That sounded great. Had to give it to those damn Goa’uld, they knew how to dine in style. With food, for which they’d undoubtedly exploited their human slaves. Not their fight though. At least not at the moment.

He turned his head. “Carter, why don’t you call it a day.”

“Just a few more minutes, sir.” She didn’t even look up.

He sighed. Her idea of _a few minutes_ was entirely different from his. He glanced at his watch. 7.38 Antarctica time. Definitely dinner time. Fine, he’d give her a coupla minutes.

“How’s camp?”

“Everything’s running smooth as always.” Jacob folded his hands behind his back. “Sheppard’s doing a good job as your replacement.”

“Good to hear.” He missed camp. They hadn’t been there for weeks. The risk was too high that they’d expose Earth on their way back. Even though he’d agreed to let Carter work with Ba’al, he didn’t trust him a bit. Nor his minions.

“We’re done.” Carter straightened.

Jack raised his brows. Wow. That _had_ only been a coupla minutes. Odd. “Great. So, dinner?”

“Sir, you don’t understand.” She turned and beamed at him. “We’re _done_.”

“As in?”

Ba’al rolled his eyes. “We have completed the program.”

“Wow…” He stared at her. “You serious? I didn’t know you were so far along.”

“Well, sir, I wasn’t sure if we were, so I didn’t wanna raise false hopes. The last three simulations came back successful, and we just went over the code one last time.”

“Are you telling me we have a functional virus now? As in, we can disable the Aschen Stargate?”

Another beaming smile. His stomach flip-flopped. “Yes, sir.”

“Well done.” He’d be damned. She’d actually managed to make this happen. He glanced at the screen. The zeroes and ones didn’t make any sense to him, but if she said it worked…

“When do you plan on distributing the virus and disabling the Aschen Stargate?” Impatience layered Ba’al’s voice.

“Once we’ve figured out a safe plan to get to their homeworld,” Jack said.

“You have not done that yet?”

“To be honest, we weren’t sure whether you’d succeed. No offense. But you seem the big talk no action kinda guy.”

Ba’al’s eyes blazed. Oh, if only he could shoot him. Wouldn’t that be swell…

“So… what now?” Jack asked.

“We can return to our base, sir. I have all necessary information on my computer. I’ll create a portable disk version of the virus when we’re home.”

He clapped his hands together. “Okay, home it is. Marty, Jacob, pack up.” He turned to Ba’al. “Great working with ya. We’ll let you know how it turns out.”

The Goa’uld frowned at him. As though he’d love to kill him. The feeling was mutual.

Carter packed up her computer and some smaller gadgets and chords. A few minutes later, they left the temple and crossed the rocky courtyard.

Jack nudged her with his shoulder. “Good job.”

“Thank you, sir.” She glowed with pride. “To be honest, I had doubts myself.”

They approached the Stargate and waited. Waited some more. The gate remained dead.

Jack turned around. Ba’al and his Jaffa had taken position behind them. Just as he’d thought. The bastard was gonna make trouble. “Care to dial the gate?”

The Goa’uld gave a sardonic smile. “There was a change of plan. You will hand over the virus, and all your computers and devices.”

“Oh, I don’t think so.” Jack took a step towards him, his finger on the trigger of his P-90.

“I have decided I do not need you to carry out the plan. Jaffa, kree!” The two Jaffas at his sides pointed their staff weapons at them.

“Oh for cryin’ out loud.” Jack released a sigh. “You know, I wanna say I’m surprised by this, but I’m really not.”

Ba’al folded his arms. “The devices.”

“Not gonna happen.”

Ba’al’s eyes glowed as he turned to his Jaffa. “Kill them. But spare the woman. I want her for myself.”

“Hold on.” Next to Jack, Jacob stepped forward, his voice deep and reverberating. “I would not advise you to do that.”

Jack glowered at Jacob. He didn’t appreciate the interruption when he’d been just about to tell Ba’al to suck it.

“Why not, Tok’ra?” Ba’al scowled at Jacob.

“Because you will be dead the moment either you or your Jaffa fire one shot.”

Wait, what? Jack turned to stare at him. What the hell did that mean?

Carter’s sharp intake of breath made him turn. He followed her gaze up towards the sky. About ten meters in the air, the puddle jumper had uncloaked, its weapons aimed at Ba’al and his Jaffa. Who the hell had ordered that?

“You heard him, Ba’al.” Jack folded his arms. “If we die, you die with us. Nobody gets the virus, cause it’ll be blown up with the rest of our equipment. So you got two options. You stick to the original deal, or you ruin everything you’ve worked for. Oh, and you’ll die. Your choice.”

Ba’al’s eyes flamed. If Jack had ever seen anyone metaphorically steaming, the Goa’uld was the epitome of it. After a long moment, Ba’al turned to his Jaffa and waved his hand. They lowered their staff weapons.

The gate dialed, though Jack was sure it hadn’t been on Ba’al’s orders. Probably whoever was in the jumper had decided to intervene. The event horizon opened behind them.

“We will meet again, humans. And next time I will not be so forthcoming.”

“Yeah, well, guess what, neither will we.” He gave Carter a little pat on the shoulder, indicating for her to walk through the gate. Martouf and Jacob followed. Jack kept his P-90 pointed at Ba’al and took a few steps backwards.

Only a few well-aimed shots… He narrowed his eyes. The bastard had tried to double-cross them. So as far as he was concerned, their deal was null and void.

He glanced up at the jumper. If he killed Ba’al, he’d endanger whoever was piloting it. Too bad. Well, as Ba’al’d said, they’d meet again.

He took a last step back, and then Dakara vanished into a blue chaos of nothingness.

 

***

 

“I don’t care if it saved our asses. I wouldn’t care if it’d saved the entire galaxy.”

“Jack, the decision wasn’t mine. And there wasn’t exactly time to talk about it.”

“Weeks! We had weeks on that damned planet. You telling me you didn’t have one minute to inform me you had detailed intel that Ba’al planned on deceiving us from the start?”

Sam shifted in her crouched position next to the thin tent wall and steadied herself against Vala’s back.

“Wow, he’s mad,” Vala whispered.

Sam flinched. She couldn’t really blame him. He valued honesty and loyalty above all.

“Damn it, Jacob, I’m commander of this camp. _We_ were the ones stuck in that room with Ba’al. It’s stuff like this I don’t tolerate from my own people. And I sure as hell won’t tolerate it from the Tok’ra. I don’t like to be a pawn in your little games.”

“I don’t understand your outrage. We have the virus. The mission went well.”

“You deliberately withheld information and allowed us to run into a trap. Blind. You know I hate surprises on missions.” Jack came close to yelling. “How the hell am I supposed to guarantee the safety of my team when our so-called allies don’t bother to give us details?”

“What the hell are you two doing here?” Daniel’s voice drifted from behind them. Sam and Vala drew in sharp breaths.

“Shhh.” Vala placed her index finger against her lips and then waved at him to crouch down next to them.

Daniel did. “What’s going on?” His voice was lowered to a whisper.

“The Tok’ra had intel about Ba’al’s intent on betraying us. They withheld the information from Jack, and relayed wrong orders to Sheppard,” Sam said quietly.

Daniel winced. “Ouch. So they played Sheppard and Jack against each other? Jack must be furious.” As if to affirm his statement, the yelling continued inside the tent.

“I wonder if he’s gonna throw them out?” Vala half-turned.

Sam’s stomach clenched. She shook her head. “That wouldn’t be wise. The Tok’ra are still a big help to us.”

“Well… Jack’s not exactly known for his conflict-solving strategies,” Daniel said. They grew quiet again.

“Dammit, Jacob, I don’t have to tell you how important loyalty is. How am I supposed to work with people if I can’t trust them to tell me the truth? All of it.”

“For what it’s worth, Selmak voted against it. But the council has the last word and—”

“I don’t care for the damn council. You tell them, if they pull that crap again, I’ll kick their asses through the gate back to their own world. If they wanna work as a team, they’ll share every piece of intel that’s vital to our mission, or they can shove their alliance up their asses.”

Footsteps scuffled from inside. Vala, Sam and Daniel hurried away from the tent. Jack marched off in the direction of the food tent.

“Wow… I haven’t seen him so mad in a long time.” Daniel pushed his glasses further up on his nose. “What exactly happened?”

Sam winced. “The Tok’ra knew that Ba’al never intended to let us go back. He wanted to keep our program for himself, along with the information on our computers. They lied to Sheppard, saying that Jack had ordered him to take the cloaked jumper through the gate to Dakara. Apparently, Sheppard’s been hiding on Dakara for the past few days, then returned every night.”

“That’s… bold.” Daniel scratched his head. “I’m surprised Jack’s giving them a second chance. If any of our people had pulled something like that, they’d be out.”

“Yeah.” She sighed. “You know, it’s too bad. He’d just started trusting them after spending some time with my dad and Martouf.”

“Samantha?” All three turned. Martouf and Jolinar strolled towards them. They glanced from Sam to Daniel, then back to Sam. Martouf smiled at her. “We wanted to apologize. I assure you, I had no knowledge of the intel, and I do not approve of how the council handled the matter.”

Jolinar flinched. “You have to understand that we have worked on our own for thousands of years. The Tok’ra may be old, but they have to learn a few things about alliances.” She sighed and took a step towards them. “I really enjoyed working with you. And I hope we can still remain friends.”

Sam nodded. “I’d like that.”

“We could all have dinner together at the food tent,” Daniel said, a diplomatic smile on his face.

“That sounds good,” Martouf said.

Sam took a deep breath as they walked towards the food tent. As angry as Jack had been, she hoped he wouldn’t throw the Tok’ra out. What would happen to them if this alliance didn’t work out? And what would happen to her father?

 

***

 

Jack looked up when a gust of fresh air rustled some of the papers on his desk. Carter entered the tent. Immediately his mood improved.

“Hi… do you have a minute?”

“Yeah. Sure.” A knot settled in his stomach. She sounded serious. “What’s up?”

“It’s about my dad.” She swallowed visibly as she came to a halt in front of his desk. “I overheard part of your discussion with him earlier.”

Jack grimaced. “Yeah… I think half the camp did. Guess we weren’t very discreet.”

She gave him one of those ice-melting smiles. “No, sir.”

Damn, she was beautiful. Still, concern shadowed her eyes. He put his pen down and leaned back. “Carter, Jacob and I’ve been friends for many years. I’m not mad at him. Part of me even understands his reasoning. But this is about trust. We can’t trust the Tok’ra if they don’t trust us.”

“I know. My dad’s with them now. Sometimes it’s easy to forget he’s not just my dad anymore, but also Selmak. If the Tok’ra left Earth, he’d have to go with them.”

“Who said anything about them leaving?” He leaned forward.

“Nobody… I just thought…you know…you were so angry and…”

“Carter.” He sighed and pressed his palms against his eyes. “I was angry. Jacob was angry. Neither of us is exactly diplomatic in our discussions. I may have overreacted threatening to throw them out. After all, they did take care of the backup.”

Sighing, she sat down on one of the boxes. “They did, didn’t they?”

“We all gotta learn to trust each other.”

“Oh?” She looked confused.

He smirked. “Daniel was here earlier and gave me a speech about trust, alliances, teamwork… all that stuff.”

“Oh.” A smile played around her mouth. “Well, sir, for what it’s worth, I think you had a point.”

“So do I.” He smiled. “But I see his point. I don’t expect Sheppard to clear every one of his steps with me when I’m not at camp. I guess I should pay the Tok’ra the same courtesy.” He looked at the tent entrance for a moment. Somehow, life had become a lot more complicated ever since the Tok’ra had joined them.

“I know the Tok’ra are different from us,” she said, drawing his gaze back to her. “But I think we can trust them. At least some of them. Martouf, Jolinar, my dad… they’d never betray us.”

“You didn’t mention Anise.” He had to hide another grin.

“I’m not sure about her, yet.” Her eyes sparkled but her jaw clenched ever so slightly. Did her words carry a hint of jealousy? His insides warmed. He got up and rounded the desk.

Confusion flickered on her face as she lifted from the box and stared at him with those big beautiful eyes. Without a word, he pulled her into his arms. Her breath hitched, then a sigh escaped her as he took her lips in a deep kiss. God, he loved her. What would he do if he ever lost her?


	44. The Winner Takes It All

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> This version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).
> 
>  
> 
> Now you can also find an ebook version of this story on my website, including lots of bonus material as well as the first publication version of Stargate Aschen. (Click image to download.)  
> 
> 
>   
>  [](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-free-stargate-sg-1-ebook/)   
>    
> 

Sam dropped down on one of the wooden boxes in the briefing tent. Some coffee from the cup in her hand spilled onto her pants. She groaned. Early morning briefings still weren’t her thing.

“Rough night?” Next to her, Daniel grinned.

“McKay and I tried to devise a program for distributing the virus into a gate until—” She glanced at her watch. “—three hours ago.”

“Ouch. Success?”

“We managed to cut distribution time down to twenty seconds. Provided we connect directly to the Aschen dialing device.”

Daniel pushed his glasses up on his nose. “Does Jack know yet?”

“Yeah. He wasn’t happy, but there’s just no way to distribute the virus remotely without affecting the entire gate network.” She put her cup down and buried her face in her hands. Her eyes burned from lack of sleep. She’d definitely have to hit the sack for another couple of hours after the briefing.

Jack entered the tent. “Good morning, kids.”

How did he always manage to sound so awake and cheerful? After all, he hadn’t gotten much more sleep than she had.

“Where’s McKay?” Jack looked around.

“He’ll be here in a moment. He’s getting breakfast,” Daniel said.

“Ah.” Jack set some papers down on a makeshift table.

Seconds later, McKay entered the tent carrying two large sandwiches. Jack started the briefing. Sam stifled a yawn and took a huge sip of coffee. All the coffee at camp wouldn’t be enough today.

“…so Sheppard and I talked about it, and we’ve devised a strategy to distribute the virus. It requires extensive preparation and collaboration with other resistance cells, but we think we can make it work.” Jack leaned against the table. “Just distributing the virus isn’t gonna do Earth any good long-term. So we’ll distribute the virus and, at the same time, retake the Stargate in Powhatan.”

Retake the… Sam sat up straight. Talk about a long-term effort. “As in a revolution, sir?”

“Yeah. We wanna keep casualties to a minimum, and if the Aschen can’t call for reinforcements, we should gain the upper hand quickly.” He got up and turned to the whiteboard. “At present, there’s approximately two-thousand Aschen on Earth. Most of them reside in the Powhatan area. Thanks to the weapons and technology we acquired on off world missions, disarming them shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Um…” Daniel cleared his throat. “Jack, even with all the other cells involved, we’d be outnumbered at least one to three.”

“Most of the Aschen are bureaucrats. Only about one sixth are justice agents or have any kind of combat training. Which turns the odds in our favor.”

“We’ll also have the element of surprise on our side,” Sam said. “They won’t expect an open attack.”

“Combined with distributing the virus, that should give Earth the chance to break free from the Confederation.” Jack looked around the tent. “Questions?”

Daniel folded his arms. “You said you wanted to minimize casualties? What you propose sounds more like an outright war.”

“No. The Aschen won’t have a choice but to surrender Powhatan. Let’s not forget that the resistance has many sympathizers among the citizens.”

“True, but we don’t have specific numbers of how many humans would stand with us in an armed conflict,” Daniel said.

“That’s why we need to give the other cells some time to coordinate their efforts.”

Thoughtful, Sam took a sip of coffee. “That means we’ll have to time distributing the virus precisely with our retake of Powhatan. If we do it too late, the Aschen will send reinforcements. If we do it too early, the Aschen stationed on Earth will take countermeasures.”

Jack nodded. “All of those who aren’t involved in the sciences will join the Powhatan cell starting next week. Stargate operations will be halted for the time being, and we’ll operate the Antarctica base on minimal staff.”

At that moment, Jacob entered the tent. Jack’s face lit up. “Ah, just on time. I was about to talk about the Tok’ra’s involvement in our little coup. Provided you got the green light?”

Jacob walked to the front of the tent. “The Tok’ra council has agreed to support your idea. We’ll help you transport the remaining Aschen back to their homeworld. But the council has some conditions.”

Jack folded his arms and scowled. “Oh?”

Of course he wasn’t pleased. Their relationship with the Tok’ra was still strained after their failure to inform Jack of the intel about Ba’al’s betrayal.

“The Tok’ra demand full access to the Stargate so that we can continue our own operations.”

“I see no problem with that.”

Daniel cleared his throat. “After the Aschen are gone, it would be beneficial for both humans and Tok’ra, if we worked together even more closely.”

“Daniel.”

“Jack, think about it. We never talked about how to proceed after the Aschen are gone, because it never seemed attainable in the near future. We’ll have to take care of a lot of technology. We could use the Tok’ra’s help, at least in the beginning.”

Sam stifled a smile when Jack’s jaw clenched. The prospect of working even closer with them—even depending on them to some extent—had to bug him. “Why don’t we deal with one issue at a time?”

Jacob folded his hands behind his back. “What’s the plan for the virus distribution?”

“We were just getting to that,” Jack said. “A two-man team will go to the Aschen homeworld and distribute the virus. Sheppard volunteered, and you’d be an excellent second, since you’ve been on the Aschen homeworld before. And you possess the technical knowledge to upload the virus.”

Jacob lowered his head. When he lifted it again, his demeanor had changed. “I’m afraid that will not be possible.” The deep, resonant voice of Selmak filled the tent. “Due to their war with the Goa’uld, the Aschen have a mechanism to detect Goa’uld presence near their Stargates. Unfortunately, those mechanisms don’t distinguish between Tok’ra and Goa’uld. They would detect me immediately.”

Jack raised his brows. “You couldn’t have mentioned that earlier?”

“You knew of the Goa’uld detection mechanisms,” Selmak said. “I thought the problem would be obvious.”

Jack closed his eyes and turned his head. “McKay.”

McKay jerked upright. “Colonel?”

“You helped develop the distribution system. How much technical knowledge is required for the upload?”

“Technically, you just have to plug it in and enter the command code.”

“Great.”

“Unless…”

Jack raised his brows at the scientist.

“Well, it’s impossible to say if we have to make minor adjustments. This isn’t just as simple as pushing a button.”

“So we’d need a scientist? Or at least someone with technical knowledge.”

“Yes. But…” McKay squirmed on his seat.

Sam closed her eyes with a smile and a shake of her head. Of course he wouldn’t volunteer. “Sir. I can go with Colonel Sheppard.”

“Carter.” Jack.

“Sam.” Her dad.

Both men turned to her, and their reluctance to send her on the mission was practically written on their faces.

She lifted her chin. “I know more about the program than McKay, and since I developed most of the virus, I’m the most logical choice.”

“Scientifically, yes. Strategically, no,” her dad said.

Jack lifted his hand. “Jacob.” Then he looked at her. “This isn’t about who of you is the smartest.”

“I know that, sir. This is about making our plan work.”

“You sure you wanna do this?”

“Yes, sir.”

Jack seemed to think for a moment, then nodded. “All right.”

“Jack,” Jacob said, warning layering his voice as he turned.

“She’s right, Jacob. Aside from you, she _is_ the most qualified when it comes to the science of it.”

“She doesn’t have the training for missions like that.”

Jack turned back to Sam. “Which is why I’ll go with her instead of Sheppard.” He held her gaze. “You’ll take care of uploading the virus. I’ll take care of the rest.”

Jacob closed his eyes. “Jack, you’re a cell leader. With all the intel you have, you shouldn’t even think—”

“Sheppard has the same intel as me. It really doesn’t matter who of us goes. Carter. I want you to come up with a step-by-step plan by tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir.”

“If we’re gonna do this, I wanna prepare for anything that could go wrong.”

“Yes, sir.” She gave him a weak smile. They’d do this together as a team. Not that she didn’t trust Sheppard. But after all this time on SG-1, she and Jack had developed an almost intuitive way of communicating. And she trusted him to have her back. Unconditionally.

 

***

 

“Hi!”

Jack looked up from the mess of messages and notices on his desk. Sam’s head was peeking into his tent, a bright smile on her face, her short hair ruffled. Immediately his mood lifted. “Come in.”

“I finished a preliminary strategy. Do you have a moment to go over it?”

“Sure.” He pushed pieces of paper aside.

“I’ve never done anything like this before, so it might need some work.”

Jack raised his brows at her. The entire idea of letting her devise the mission plan was so that she’d gain some strategic skills. Mistakes were part of the learning process. “Show me what you’ve got.”

She unrolled a large piece of paper in front of him. “Now, since we need to go to the Aschen homeworld through the Powhatan Stargate, that’s where I started. We have access to the Aschen’s travel schedule, so I suggest we disguise ourselves as Aschen and use one of their scheduled travel windows.”

He studied her. “All right, how?”

She swallowed hard. “We do it like last time. You know, get the clothing and… walk in there.” She flinched.

He managed to keep his face blank and hide his smile. “Carter, you can’t just leave vital parts of a mission up for interpretation. Access to the Stargate is gonna be a lot more difficult than gaining access to the science fair. We’ll need Aschen identities and matching identity cards. They usually run background checks.”

Her shoulders slumped. “Okay… well…” She reached over and started rolling up her paper. “I guess I’m gonna have to start over.”

He placed his hand on her arm. “Hold on a minute. Walk me through the rest of it.”

“Sir, the rest of it isn’t gonna be any good without a valid starting point.”

“You started from the premise that we’d gain access to the Aschen Stargate without identity cards?”

“Yes, sir.” She shook her head. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“Identity cards will be a problem. Clothing won’t. So is there any way we can gain access without IDs?” He leaned back as she studied her schematic of Liberty Park.

The access gate to Liberty Park, the location of the official Earth Stargate, was one of the most heavily guarded places on Earth. Ten foot high stone fences with electric wires and motion detectors on top surrounded it.

“We’d have to get through these two access points at the entry. Once we’re inside Liberty Park, there are no security controls. According to my dad, there are no security controls on the Aschen homeworld either, except for a routine scan for Goa’uld. So once we’re past these two gates…” She tapped her pen against her lips.

“Could we go around them?”

“What do you mean?”

He shrugged. “It’s a park, and we do have a jumper capable of cloaking. Any way we can, you know, fly in there, leave the cloaked jumper and fly out again?”

She stared at him. The jumper. “Of course, why didn’t I think of that? There’s a group of trees at the south side of Liberty Park. If the jumper set down behind those, we could leave it undetected and mingle with the Aschen waiting to return to their homeworld.”

“There you go.” He smiled. She glowed with renewed confidence. “Now the rest of your strategy?”

“Getting through the gate once we’re in Liberty Park shouldn’t be a problem. The problems will start on the other side since our intel is a little sketchy. Last time my dad visited the Aschen homeworld was over ten years ago, so some of the finer details might have changed. The major one obviously being that they might have introduced security checks for incoming travelers.”

“Now that’s a bit unsettling. I’d hate to be caught by Aschen security upon arrival. Any way to obtain current intel?”

“The last human to visit the Aschen homeworld was a Ministry worker named Mayborne five months ago. But there’s no indication he supports our group.” She bit her lower lip.

Jack studied her, then scrambled through his papers. “He lives in Powhatan?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’ll contact Colonel Caldwell of the Powhatan cell. One of our contacts in the Ministry might be able to obtain the intel.”

“And if not?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” Jack scribbled a reminder down on a piece of paper. “Any other problems?”

“There’s a lot of unknown variables. I suggest we step through the Stargate last after all Aschen travelers have left. That will limit our contact with them and also give us the option to fall back once we’re there. The Aschen Stargate is located in a building. So we’d enter the departure and arrival hall. The good news is, the dialing device is right there. The bad news is, two armed security guards are positioned next to it. There’ll also be an operator who’s potentially armed.”

“So that makes three hostiles we’d have to take out right away?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Zats?”

“They’d be most efficient. Our P-90s are too loud, and we can’t use heavier weaponry without prompting alarms. Plus zats will be easy to cover with Aschen garments.”

Jack leaned back and raised his brows. “I sense a _but_.”

“Well, sir, we know the Aschen have Goa’uld defenses. But we don’t know whether those defenses only react to the presence of a Goa’uld, or also Goa’uld weapons. Daniel is going through the files in the Aschen database to find out more about their defense system.”

“Aren’t those files gonna be secured?”

“They were, sir. We cracked the encryption.”

And she mentioned that in passing? “You have?”

“Yes, sir. McKay’s preparing the report as we speak.”

“Cool.”

A smile crossed her face. “Yes, sir.”

“All right. Let’s assume zats would be fine. What then?”

“We’ll take out the guards. Once we gain control over the dialing device, I need about thirty seconds to connect my tablet and upload the program. Once the upload is complete, we have ten seconds to…” When Jack sat up and raised his hand, she stopped.

“Little problem. If the virus deactivates the gate, won’t we be stuck on the Aschen homeworld?”

“Technically, you’re correct.”

“I am?” Now that was surprising.

“Yes, sir. For that reason, we divided the distribution program into stages. During the first stage, it’ll establish an outgoing wormhole to our beta-site. Then it’ll enter phase two and copy the core commands into the gate code itself via the dialing device. The command is set to run once the outgoing wormhole is closed.”

She paused and studied him, obviously expecting some kind of interruption. He nodded. “Sounds good. Go on.”

“Once I’ve uploaded the virus, I’ll plant time-delayed explosives on the dialing device, so the Stargate can’t perform an update and fix itself before the process is complete. We’ll set the counter to two minutes.”

“Make that one minute.” Jack looked at the schematic of the Aschen arrival room on her paper. “Shouldn’t take us more than ten seconds to make it from the dialing device to the gate. We don’t wanna give the Aschen the chance to disable the explosives.”

“Right.” She took a few notes.

“Won’t the explosions destroy the Stargate as well?”

“No, sir.” Sam shook her head. “Even if the naquadah in the dialing devices enhanced the explosion, the chance the gate will be destroyed is almost non-existent. We’ve seen gates survive nuclear explosions and volcano eruptions.”

“Right.”

“But sir, there’s a little catch.”

“Of course there is.”

The ghost of a smile played around her lips. “Dad suggested that the unscheduled dialing of an outgoing wormhole to a non-Aschen world will trigger an alarm. So you might have to cover me while I plant the explosives and disconnect our tablet.”

“How much time?”

“Ten, maybe fifteen seconds.”

“And how many security guards?”

“Half a dozen at most.”

“I’ll have a zat, so that shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Once we have everything, we’ll retreat through the Stargate, which will automatically shut down five seconds before the explosives go off. On our beta-site, we can wait until our next Stargate window and return to Earth through the Antarctica Stargate. We don’t know what the situation in Powhatan will be. Most of the Aschen will probably gather at Liberty Park to flee to the Aschen homeworld once they realize they don’t have a chance. We wouldn’t want to step through the Stargate right into their arms and become hostages. Which is why I opted for the safer route by using our beta site.” She stood up. “That’s basically it.”

“That’s a good strategy.”

“Really?” She beamed at him. His stomach tingled.

“Yeah. Once we smooth out the rough edges we talked about. Gives us a good basis to work with. Nicely done, Carter.” He looked down at her paper, then lifted his head. “What’s the backup plan in case zats aren’t an option?”

“We don’t have one yet. I figured, we’d cross that bridge once we get to it.” Her eyes twinkled.

He smirked. “All right. Let’s just hope that bridge doesn’t burn under our feet.”

She rolled up her plan. Jack looked through the stacks with messages and reports, then down at his watch. Way past noon.

He got up. “Lunch?”

“I’d love that.”

“Let’s go. I gotta see something else than strategic messages and requests for a while.” He slipped his arm around her waist, and they left the tent.

 

***

 

Twenty-two seconds. Two seconds too many. Sam closed her eyes. She’d estimated twenty seconds in her plan, so why did she take so long? She reset the simulation, then turned her tablet back off and walked back to the entrance of her tent.

After taking a deep breath, she started her stopwatch. Three meters to the computer, turning her tablet on, hooking up the cables to the dialing device, and entering the commands for upload. The bar on her screen filled up and finally blinked.

_Upload complete._

Her fingers trembled as she opened the command interface. She typed the activation command and waited a couple of seconds. The screen blinked again.

_Program activated._

She unhooked the tablet and stopped her watch. Twenty-three seconds. A frustrated cry escaped. Why? What the hell was she doing wrong? She buried her face in her hands. Three seconds too many. And not even twenty-four hours left.

If anything went wrong tomorrow… If she messed up…

“Whatcha doing?”

Jack’s voice drifted from the tent entrance. She looked up. Hands in his pockets he strolled toward her desk.

“I’m just running a few simulations for tomorrow.”

“Ah.” He nodded and picked up the magnifying glass from her desk to study random objects. “Didn’t you do that every single minute since last Thursday?”

“Yes, sir, but it’s not good enough yet. I wanted to get under nineteen seconds, instead I’m at twenty-three now.”

“Your report yesterday stated nineteen point eight seconds, which was good enough.” He straightened and let the magnifying glass sink.

She sighed. “I know, but the faster the better. If I mess up tomorrow…”

“Whoa.” He placed the magnifying glass back on the table. “Carter, remember the speech about overthinking I gave you during bootcamp?”

His coffee-brown eyes held hers. She released a breath. “Yeah?”

“You’re doing it again.”

“I’m just trying to—”

“Ah.” He crossed the distance between them and took the tablet out of her hand. “Enough simulations. You need to get your mind off things. And you need a good night’s sleep before tomorrow.”

“But—”

“No buts.” He drew her close. “Everything will work out fine. You’ll see.”

“But what if I mess up? What if we run into problems? This is the most important mission we’ve ever gone on. I don’t wanna screw it up.”

“You won’t.” He brushed his thumb over her cheek. “Trust me. Because even if something goes wrong, your brain will kickstart into gear and think of a way out. You’re good at that. Running into problems and improvising is what we do, remember?”

She gave him a weak smile. “Yeah.”

He linked their fingers. “We should get a full eight hours sleep before the mission. Tomorrow at twelve we gotta be at Liberty Park.”

“What time is it?”

“Eight.”

She raised her brows. “That’s way too early for sleep.”

His eyes gleamed as he leaned in. “I never said I wanted to sleep now.” His warm lips dropped a kiss on the sensitive spot right under her ear.

Tension fled her muscles as she leaned into his embrace. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close.

“You know, McKay did want me to take a test drive in the jumper before tomorrow’s mission.” Another kiss, lower on her neck. “Test the cloak and all.”

“Uh-huh?” She giggled when he gave her a playful nip.

“Interested in joining me?”

“Always.”

He grinned at her. “Let’s go then.”

 

***

 

Two hours later, Jack inhaled the fresh, salty ocean air. Sam panted as they crawled onto the soft pebbles of the Caribbean beach, the waves crashing onto the surrounding sand. She laughed when he caught up with her. He grabbed her around the waist, and she turned on her back.

Their lips met just as a new wave rolled onto the shore. She sank into the retreating water, her lips parting under his exploring mouth.

She tasted like seawater, and wind, and her, and he never wanted to stop kissing her. When a new wave rolled onto the shore, her soft squeal died in his mouth. Grinning, he broke the kiss.

“You’d think we’d have learned our lesson about sex on the beach.”

“Technically, it wasn’t on the beach.”

“Betcha the effects will be the same.” He nuzzled her neck.

A large wave crashed over them, sending them both coughing and laughing into a sitting position. They pulled themselves further away from the waves towards the cloaked jumper. In this part of the world, the afternoon sun still burned down hot, and the water glistened azure blue.

Jack lay down in the warm sand and stared up into the cloudless sky. Next to him, Sam wrung out her hair and then snuggled up to his naked chest.

“Strange feeling, isn’t it?” Her fingers tugged his wet chest hair gently.

“What?”

“Our last night on an Aschen-ruled Earth. If all goes well tomorrow, everything will be different.”

He tangled his hand in her hair. “We’ll still be the same.”

She lifted her head. Her hair gleamed golden in the bright sunlight, and her smile warmed his heart. “Don’t tell me you don’t feel it.”

“What?” He raised his brows.

“Excitement. Thrill. Maybe a bit of fear. We’ve worked for this moment for so long. Decades. Centuries.”

“I guess it is a little overwhelming, isn’t it?” Smiling, he dropped a kiss to her shoulder. “For now, I’m focusing on the task at hand.”

“Tomorrow at this time, it’ll all be over. What then?” Her face turned thoughtful. “Without the Aschen, what are we going to fight for?”

“We’ll still have the Stargate and the entire galaxy to explore.” He stole a quick kiss from her lips. “First thing I’ll do is take you back here for a vacation. Three days. Just you, me and the sea. And maybe a fishing pole.”

A smile lit up her face. “Deal.”

When she laid her head back down on his shoulder, he lifted his gaze to the sky. Somehow, the Aschen didn’t even seem to matter that much anymore. She’d become his home, his world. Whatever the future might bring, as long as he was with her, he’d face it.

 

***

 

Sam kept her face blank as they approached the Powhatan Stargate. Her arm hooked into Jack’s, she walked in a slow, deliberate step—just like the other Aschen women. Another couple passed them by, the male nodding courteously at them. Jack gave an equally courteous nod back. Both women remained motionless.

Thank God nobody could see how fast her heart was pounding. A mere ten meters separated them from the Stargate. At the entrance gate in the far distance, two guards checked in the last travelers. Another five minutes. Almost an eternity.

Jack gave her hand a gentle squeeze, a gesture invisible to spectators. She looked at him for just a moment, and the calm expression in his eyes relaxed her. Everything was gonna be okay.

The zat on her thigh was well concealed by the wide shirt she wore. Her tablet with the virus was Aschen technology and wouldn’t raise any suspicions. And the cords to connect the tablet to the dialing device were hidden in her headwear. Vala had come up with the idea to use them as hair accessories—or at least make it look as though they were.

 _“Travelers to the Aschen homeworld, please assemble at the gate. Scheduled departure time in three minutes.”_ The announcement repeated two more times through speakers set up in every corner of the park.

They waited near the gate, but far enough away that they wouldn’t have to mingle. No need to arouse suspicion, especially when they didn’t have IDs to make it through a last minute security check.

Time stretched to infinity. At last, the gate started spinning and the first chevron lit up. Jack cleared his throat discreetly, and she realized she clutched his arm. Swallowing, she took a breath and relaxed. Everything would go well. Piece of cake. Tomorrow at this time, they’d be on their island.

After an eternity, the event horizon swashed open. One by one, the travelers stepped up the ramp and vanished into the deep blue puddle. When the crowd cleared, Jack led her towards the end of the line.

Sam glanced at her watch. Two minutes past twelve. In about five minutes, the resistance would begin their large-scale attack on all major Aschen government buildings—including Liberty Park. She lifted her eyes back to the Stargate.

The man in front of them stepped through the gate. They waited. Waited some more.

“Ready?” Jack whispered in her ear.

“Yes, sir. Let’s do it.”

She released her breath, and they stepped into the event horizon.

As they stepped through on the other side, she gasped for air, ignoring the momentary mild dizziness that came with every trip through the gate.

Glass windows framed the huge arrival and departure hall. Outside, the sky shimmered clear blue and clouds passed by. Not much different from Earth. Her dad had told her that the Stargate on the Aschen homeworld was located on the top floor of a massive skyscraper, but no description had prepared her for the reality of it.

She turned her head. Two guards stood next to the dialing device, engaged in conversation. The operator at the device gave them a courteous nod. They slowed their steps to fall behind.

Nobody paid attention to them. If they’d been scanned, everything seemed to have turned out all right. Apparently the chance of an attack on the Aschen homeworld was so remote, they didn’t even consider it.

They stopped and Sam pretended to search through her bag. She clasped the tablet and sneaked a glance at Jack. He gave an ever so slight nod. The last traveler left the hall through the exit at the far end.

Jack let go of her arm. The signal. She spun, and started towards the dialing device at the same moment Jack fired the first shot. Then a second, then a third. The last guard went to the ground the instant she reached the device.

Panting, she ripped the cover off her head, pulled the cords out from under it and plugged them into her tablet. Then she opened the dialing device and connected her computer to the Stargate system, just as she’d practiced. She trembled as she turned the tablet on.

“Take your time.” Jack bent down to the operator and removed his stun gun. “We got all the time in the world.”

“Yes, sir.” Even though she knew that couldn’t be further from the truth, his calm reassurance slowed her heartbeat down.

She entered the upload commands.

_Uploading…_

_5% complete…_

She glanced at Jack. He’d disarmed the last guard and looked around. So far so good. Until the first stage of the virus was completed, there’d be no alarm. The hardest part was still ahead of them.

_25% complete…_

Sam glanced at her watch. Still on time. She fixated her gaze on the screen as though she could speed up the process by sheer willpower.

_65% complete…_

Oh for crying out loud, couldn’t this upload go faster? She bit her lower lip.

_99% complete…_

Finally, the screen blinked. _Upload complete._

She opened the command interface and lifted her head to look at Jack.

He gave her a nod. _Ready._

After another deep breath, she entered the command.

_Virus activating…_

Hurriedly, she put the tablet down and ripped open the seam of her skirt. She unclasped the explosives she’d fastened to her upper thigh and planted them on the dialing device.

Behind her, the Stargate started spinning, and chevrons lit up. The instant the wormhole opened, a loud alarm began wailing. Voices sounded from the other end of the hall. She forced herself to ignore what was going on around her. She set the timer to one minute and planted it on the explosives before activating it.

Behind her, voices grew louder, then the sound of the zat discharging, and a scream. More voices.

A projectile hit the ground next to her, making her jump. She resisted the urge to turn. _Focus on the task._ Jack would have her back and take care of the Aschen. The writing on the screen flashed.

_Stage 1 complete. Stage 2 will initiate after Stargate shutdown._

She unplugged the tablet and spun. Jack hit the last of four guards. The man went to the ground with a groan. More voices approached from the distant hallway. Only a couple more minutes and Aschen agents would swarm this place.

“Sir.” Sam pressed the tablet to her chest and took a few steps sideways towards the Stargate.

Jack turned and hurried towards her. Another projectile buzzed by close to her ear. Three more guards had entered the hall. Jack spun and aimed at them again. He hit one. Then the second and third.

She glanced down at her watch. Forty seconds until the explosives went off. Plenty of time.

Suddenly, a low hum started buzzing in her ear, then grew steady and permanent. Alarm made the hair at her nape stand. She looked around but saw nothing. Still, something was wrong. Very wrong.

Jack hurried towards her. “Let’s go before more of these—”

The buzz increased and then the air in front of her flickered like a net of transparent cubes as Jack bounced off an invisible barrier. He stumbled backwards, eyes wide.

Her blood ran cold. Time stopped. A force field surrounded the area of the Stargate and the dialing device, trapping her inside—or rather trapping him outside. Nobody had ever mentioned anything about a force field being part of the Aschen security system. Aschen didn’t use force field technology.

She dropped the tablet to the floor and raced towards Jack. Her palms tingled as she touched the surface of the invisible wall. She fisted her hands and hit the field. Once, twice. No use. Of course not. Muscle power wouldn’t break through a force field. She had to use her brains. She glanced at her watch. Thirty seconds left.

“Carter?” Jack stared at her from the other side.

“I know, sir.” She jerked around and raced towards the dialing device. “I need you to look for a control panel. Or anything that might power the field.”

Chances were, the control panel would be outside. After all, the force field was most likely designed to protect the Aschen from intruders. But the power generating unit had to be located within the force field. She glanced around. The only devices close by were the Stargate and the dialing device.

The dialing device… Could it be?

“There’s nothing here.” Jack’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

“There has to be.” She raced back to the force field. “Check the wall over there. I think there’s something like an outlet… maybe…”

He stepped towards her instead. “There’s no time.”

She glanced at her watch. “We have twenty-five seconds. If I delay the explosion—”

“Carter,” he snapped, making her look up. “Delaying isn’t an option.”

“But…” She hit the force field once more. “I’m sure if we…”

“Carter, listen to me.” He placed his hands over hers against the invisible barrier that separated them. She didn’t feel the warmth of his skin. So close, and yet so far. “I want you to go through that gate to our beta-site as we planned.”

The room started spinning as the implication of his words dawned on her. “No.”

“Sam. There’s no way you’ll disable the force field in twenty seconds.”

He was right. Oh God, he was right. Her gaze darted around. From the dialing device to the outlet at the far wall, then back to the timer. There had to be a way. There always was. If she just had more time… Maybe a minute…

“Carter…”

His voice made her look at him again.

“You can still make it.”

She shook her head. “Not without you.”

His face hardened. “I want you to turn around and go through the gate to our beta site. That’s an order, understood?”

Her breath hitched. Everything in her wanted to disobey. But she managed a nod. The timer on the dialing device mercilessly counted down the seconds. Eighteen… seventeen… All they had left. She pressed her forehead against the field, against his hand.

“Sam, please follow my order.”

She met his gaze one last time. There was so much she still wanted to tell him. So much of their life together left unlived. So many promises unfulfilled. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. We kicked the Aschen’s ass.” He gave her a faint smile. “I’ll be fine.”

A lie. There was no way the force field would withstand the blast, especially not if it was tied to the power source in the dialing device. He’d die in the explosion. All her training, all her knowledge, all her intelligence didn’t make a difference. There was nothing she could do. Not without sacrificing Earth and the resistance. If she aborted the mission, everything they worked for would’ve been for nothing.

“Carter.” Jack’s face gentled. “Earth needs you. Go.”

She took a step back towards the gate. Then another, and another, her body moving as though she were in trance, as though she somehow wasn’t part of it anymore, but the spectator of an odd, distorted nightmare.

“Jack…” She wasn’t sure if the sound left her lips. One last look at the timer. Nine… Eight… Bizarre how hopes and dreams could just tick away with the seconds on the clock, like water flowing out of a broken bucket.

How was she supposed to go on without him? Did she want to?

In the distance, more guards entered the hall, their weapons pointed at the gate. And then everything vanished in bright-blue nothingness.

When she stumbled backwards out the Stargate on the beta site, the soft, uneven ground under her feet made her stumble. She hit the ground hard, but her eyes remained on the event horizon. It was futile and unreasonable… but maybe the force field would go down at the last moment. Maybe Jack would step through. Her pulse sped up. Certainly… Any moment…

The event horizon closed.

She remained on the ground as a dark vacuum swallowed up everything inside her.

 _No, no, no, no, no._ She couldn’t leave him behind. They never left people behind.

She jumped to her feet and raced to the dialing device. Maybe the explosives hadn’t gone off. Maybe she could still save him. She dialed the coordinates of the Aschen homeworld and pressed the red center button. The chevrons lit up and then died. Nothing happened. No event horizon formed.

Wrong coordinates, for sure. She repeated the dialing procedure. Same result. Her fist slammed down on the keys. Then she tried a third time. To no avail.

She screamed and sank down with her back against the device while tears spilled down her cheeks. Jack. She’d left him behind to die. _Never leave anyone behind…_

She raised her head to the sky. Their life together, their island, their future. All wiped out in the blink of an eye. Nothing would ever be the same again.

It was over.


	45. Fragments

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> This version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).
> 
>  
> 
> Now you can also find an ebook version of this story on my website, including lots of bonus material as well as the first publication version of Stargate Aschen. (Click image to download.)  
> 
> 
>   
>  [](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-free-stargate-sg-1-ebook/)   
>    
> 

 

Time…

Such an odd concept. Sometimes racing, sometimes slowing. And then, in moments like these, stopping altogether.

Jack closes his eyes as the burning in his lungs fades.

Death is another one of those odd concepts. We spend our entire lives fearing it, but when its moment comes, all fear evaporates. It means the end of pain, the end of suffering, the end of torture. Everything loses meaning, even the sense of self.

Strong hands pull his head back out of the icy water, away from the merciful nothingness. His lungs burn as they fill with air. He coughs, and the pain is back. Everywhere. He tries to shift, but his bound hands allow for only minimal movement.

“We will repeat this as often as necessary, human. Who are you working for, and what have you done to our Stargate?” The monotone voice sounds almost bored.

Jack manages to lift his head and glares at the middle-aged Aschen man sitting on a chair in the corner. Boren leans forward. His is the only name he remembers. It sounds so much like boring. So fitting.

“We know you came from Earth. As soon as we have repaired our Stargate, your people will feel our wrath.”

“Good luck with that.” He blinks against the water running down his face and into his eyes.

Boren’s face hardens. He nods at the Aschen holding him.

Jack doesn’t bother to take a deep breath anymore. It just prolongs the inevitable. As his head submerges in the icy water again, he doesn’t struggle. He waits patiently. Through the burning of his lungs, the pounding in his head, the futile struggle of his body to prevent the inevitable. The moment his body finally surrenders, they will pull him up again and start anew.

Death is the only hope left.

 

***

 

Sam looked around on the forest floor. Her tools lay scattered everywhere. She leaned over the dialing device again, and released a long breath. It had been five days. Five days.

There had to be a way to access the subspace connection between gates in order to send a signal to the Aschen Stargate. If she could realign the sensor, maybe she could remotely override the gate’s security protocol. That would enable them to at least dial into the Aschen homeworld.

Behind her, somebody cleared his throat. She spun. Her dad strolled towards her, his hands folded behind his back, his face a serious mask of concern.

She already knew what he wanted. The same thing he’d tried for the past five days since she’d returned from their mission on the Aschen homeworld.

“Don’t even start, dad. I don’t have time.”

“Sam.” He sat down on a tree stump and studied her.

She tried her best to ignore him, but he had that same look he’d had when she’d been a teen. “What?”

“It’s been five days, kiddo. Don’t you think it’s time to stop?”

“All I have to do is establish an open wormhole between Earth and the Aschen homeworld.”

“And then?” He leaned his elbows on his thighs.

“Then we can send a rescue team through.”

“We both know that’s not an option.”

“Why not?” She glared at him. “I don’t know how the Tok’ra handle things, but we don’t leave people behind.”

“For starters, the rescue team wouldn’t have a way back. We won’t send more people to their deaths.” Sighing, her dad got up and strolled closer. “Sam, the force of the explosion combined with the naquadah in the dialing device probably wiped out most of the area around the gate.”

“That’s just an assumption. If it wasn’t—”

“Even if it wasn’t…” He grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face him. “What are the chances of a force field withstanding an explosion of such magnitude?”

Sam closed her eyes and swallowed against the lump in her throat. “Slim. But there’s still a chance. We don’t even know if the explosion went off.”

“Why wouldn’t it have?”

“Will you stop that?” She jerked out of his grip. The dialing device swam as she focused her attention back on the cords attached to the control crystal. “I know the chances and the numbers, dad.”

“You have to stop doing this to yourself, kiddo.” He pulled her close.

Her breath hitched. How could she stop? She’d left Jack behind to die. If she’d done her job right in the first place… She should have considered the possibility of a force field. She’d failed him. They’d been on their most important mission, and he’d relied on her. And she’d failed him.

 “I just can’t…” She buried her face against the coarse material of his Tok’ra shirt. “As long as I keep going, there’s a chance. And as long as there’s a chance he’s not…” She couldn’t say it.

“It’s enough.” Despite his gentle tone, determination underlay his voice. “The Tok’ra council is getting impatient. Up to now they were lenient, but we need to use the Stargate again. Caldwell and Sheppard’s teams finally succeeded in taking the Aschen Ministry. Most Aschen are behind bars. But Sheppard needs your help in Powhatan. They have problems keeping the computer systems running, and McKay’s asked for your assistance.”

“They can’t just order me to stop.”

He shook his head. “Let it go, Sam. If there was any chance Jack survived, everyone would give you their full assistance. But there isn’t. We need you. It’s time to move on.”

Move on… How could she do that if Jack was dead while she was still alive? How was she ever supposed to forgive herself?

 

***

 

A door opens somewhere and he jerks into an upright position. Metal slams against a wall. Darkness, all around him. They’ve kept him in darkness for God knows how long. He’s stopped fighting for a sense of time what feels like an eternity ago. Pain, disorientation, fear… they’re easier to bear if he doesn’t fight it. It keeps him from going insane.

Steps approach. He barely has time to prepare himself before something hits his stomach so hard he balls up with a groan. His mouth is dry. He almost wishes they’d water-torture him again. At least that way he’d get to drink something.

“What have you done to our Stargate, human?”

“Even if I wanted to tell you, I couldn’t,” he croaks. Thank God Carter didn’t bother explaining the details of the virus to him. If he’d known, trading the info for some water, or light, or a few hours of uninterrupted sleep might have been too tempting.

Another sharp pain, this time in his nose and jaw. Groaning, he tries to roll away.

“You will talk, human. And once you do, we will eradicate your entire planet.”

The door slams. His head pounds and warmth trickles down the side of his head. Why don’t they kill him already? All he has to do is hold out long enough until he dies. Not a word. Not about the Stargate, or the resistance.

He’s shaking from thirst and pain. His eyes sting. If only they’d kill him.

His head throbs, the pain almost unbearable. He forces himself to relax against it. _Don’t fight it._

Suddenly there’s a bright light. Dizziness overwhelms him, and he isn’t sure whether he’s dreaming or hallucinating. The silhouette of a woman appears in the center and grows larger as she approaches. Her blonde, short hair lays wild like a halo around her head. She reaches out her hand, and when she smiles, he knows he’s in heaven. He touches her hand, and all pain disappears. She pulls him into her warmth, and her soft laughter chases all the darkness away.

Sam… He’s home. Finally home.

_***_

_2 weeks later_

 

Everything about Powhatan had changed. Once, it used to be the thriving center of commerce on Earth. Now it had turned into the center of an uprising.

Sam looked out the window of the small office in the former Aschen Ministry. Another riot had started down on the street after a group of people apparently spotted two Aschen trying to hide among them.

Nobody was left to break them up. Earth had no justice agents, and the few human justice clerks were severely outmanned. They needed a government.

She placed her hand against the cold glass and closed her eyes. This was all wrong. Nothing had turned out as they’d wanted it to, and the situation grew worse by the day. Reports dropped in about riots from all over the planet, criminals who made use of the absence of the justice system to rob farms, Aschen sympathizers and revolutionaries fighting each other in the streets. If someone didn’t take charge soon, Earth would face a civil war.

If only her dad were here. But he’d left to deliver the message of their coup to Ba’al in hopes that the Goa’uld would take advantage of the momentary weakness of the Aschen homeworld.

She turned her head and glanced at the desk. After working on the Aschen computer for a few days, she’d been relegated to work through the database and gather all important files on science and technology—a job that didn’t require a scientific background, since she had to forward the files to the scientists for evaluation.

McKay had been promoted to head of the science department, and she’d been demoted to the position of secretary.

Sighing, she returned to her desk. She wasn’t even mad at McKay. He’d done his best to get her on his team. The group of former human Ministry workers who’d temporarily taken charge of the Aschen Ministry hadn’t been open to his arguments.

She looked at the flashing screen and continued browsing through the files. At this point she no longer cared. Maybe she wasn’t cut out to be a scientist. After all, she hadn’t even been able to predict a simple force field. Or disable it.

 

***

 

“Answer my question!”

Jack squirms and tries to close his eyes, but they’ve somehow fixed his eyelids open. He can’t shield himself from the bright light. Can’t sleep. Can’t think. Pain… So much pain.

A scream drifts over from somewhere, and after a while he realizes it’s him.

“Tell me who’s responsible for the virus, and we’ll let you sleep. We’ll let you eat and drink. We’ll even give you a nice bed to rest in.” Boring’s face seems oddly distorted in the bright light. Or maybe it’s his brain playing tricks. Who knows?

At some point he must have mentioned a computer virus, though he doesn’t remember when. Maybe the Aschen just figured it out for themselves.

“Who. Programmed. The. Virus?” Boren slams his hands down on the table. “Tell me, or I will leave you chained like this another day.”

Sam… They’ll kill her if they ever find out she’s responsible. He presses his lips together. He won’t sacrifice her. Not even if he loses his mind over it. As long as he knows she’s safe, he’ll take whatever they do to him.

“As you wish.” Boren hits the table with his fist. Who knew the Aschen were capable of emotion?

The metal door slams shut, and then he’s alone again. Chained. The bright light burning its way through his irises. His head’s pounding. Every bone in his body aches. Endless pain.

If only they’d end this.

 

***

 

Sam screamed and jerked into an upright position. Chest heaving, it took her a few moments to realize where she was. Her bedroom.

Her eyes stung. She reached over to the nightstand for the glass of water and took huge gulps. None of it had been real. If only the dreams would stop.

Every night during the past weeks they came, haunting her, tormenting her with horrible images. The Aschen beating Jack, torturing him, killing him. And she was among them, frozen and watching. She couldn’t safe him. Even if she tried, her body wouldn’t move.

The worst part was, it didn’t end when she woke. Because then she had to face the reality of what she’d done. That she hadn’t been capable of rescuing him. That she hadn’t even tried. Why hadn’t she stayed?

The one moment it mattered she hadn’t had his back. And now he was dead.

Her breath hitched, and she buried her face in her pillow. Why hadn’t she died with him?

 

***

 

When he opens his eyes, there’s a bowl with food and a carafe of water on the ground near the door. The light is dim, and surprisingly, they’ve let him sleep. Maybe they just want him to be strong enough for a new round of interrogations.

Groaning, he sits up and rubs his palm over his face. His beard scratches his hand. He really wants a shower.

On shaking arms and legs, he crawls over to the bowl of food. It looks stale, as though it’s been sitting for a while. How long has he slept? Why hasn’t anybody come to see him yet?

Greedy, he downs the contents of the carafe. At this point, poison or truth serums aren’t much of a threat anymore. They’ve done the worst to him. He’s not afraid of them.

Exhausted, he lets the glass carafe sink and stares at the wall opposite him. Grey. No windows. He hasn’t seen daylight in…forever. Maybe he’ll never see it again. It doesn’t matter.

There’s only one way this can end. And when the moment’s finally there, he’ll embrace it.

 

***

 

_7 weeks later_

 

Aschen letters flashed across the screen as the system processed the search command. Sam stretched her arms to relieve some of the tension from her back. After over a year of daily physical exercise at camp, her body protested being stuck at a desk every day for so long.

Sighing, she rested her head on her hand. Camp. She missed Antarctica. It was probably growing cold down there now. Getting close to polar night. One year ago, she’d sat in her tent and studied reports, despite the growing storms.

She’d been happy and so blissfully ignorant of the future. If she’d known what would happen…what she’d lose…

It’d been three months since their mission to the Aschen homeworld. Time to move on. Earth was free. The provisional government had, at least for the time being, stabilized the situation around Powhatan. The Aschen laws had been overturned. The gifted system had been abolished. All marriage contracts of gifted people had been declared void, though some couples had remarried.

As opposed as she’d always been to the marriage contract and her marriage with Jack, the official annulment of the contract had stung. Nothing connected them anymore. Not even his signature on the contract. Whatever they’d shared, it was all just…gone.

Sighing, she pushed a button on her screen. The next file popped up, not in the Aschen language. A report about the status of the remaining Aschen on Earth. Somebody must’ve misfiled it.

Most Aschen still on Earth had been detained and were being transported back to their homeworld with the help of the Tok’ra. Six weeks ago, the provisional government declared Earth an independent planet, free from Aschen reign. A huge victory. She’d dreamed of it, but if she’d known about the consequences…

If only the provisional government could agree on a method of governing—as well as a leader. Despite ongoing protests, a few men, who seemed more interested in prestige than in the good of humankind, had seized power.

“Hey.”

Sam jerked upright in her chair and turned. Daniel strolled into the room, hands buried in his pockets. She smiled through the odd void inside her. Just as she’d done the past weeks. “Daniel.”

Ever since Daniel had moved to Powhatan to help as a diplomatic advisor, he’d made it a habit to come by after the newly formed POA—the planetary oversight advisory—had finished their daily briefings. Today, he was exceptionally early.

“Are they done already?”

“Pretty much.” Daniel pushed his glasses up on his nose and rolled his eyes.

“Wow. That was what, fifty-eight minutes? New record.”

“I think even our diplomats are ready to jump down some throats at this point. I’ve never seen a bunch of adult people behave so unreasonably.” He sighed and pushed himself away from the wall to sit on one of the chairs.

“I’m sure they’ll get there.” She turned her attention back to the computer when the screen opened a new file. Another medical report. She suppressed a sigh. Tiring. She chose the qualified research facility and forwarded the file with a click.

“To be honest, some of their demands concern me,” Daniel said. “There’s a growing fraction that wants to re-establish the laws that were in place before the revolution. They wanna put Earth into complete isolation. Their leader is Robert Kinsey. As the former highest-level Ministry worker, he thinks he’s entitled to a leading position in the government. How did he put it today? Earth for the humans.”

Sam turned. “What about the Tok’ra? Or the Stargate?”

“They wanna lock us down completely. Bury the gate, and drive all aliens off this planet.” Daniel rubbed his eyes and yawned.

“The Aschen will return at some point. The gate is the only way for us to strengthen the resistance and Earth.” She frowned at him. “What did we even fight for if they wanna throw it all away and reestablish the status quo?”

“People like Kinsey think we shouldn’t have fought in the first place. He claims the system was working, and we messed it up.”

“Damn collaborators.” She slammed commands into the computer. Why did so many people suddenly insist that things were great the way they used to be? Nothing had been great. They’d been slaves, prisoners on their own planet. Now the entire galaxy—and potentially more than that—had opened up for them.

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t help to call them out on it. In this particular case there doesn’t seem to be a compromise.”

Sam scrunched her brows and folded her arms, a growing lump in her throat. “So things are gonna go back to the way they used to be?”

“At this point, I’m not sure. Too many people are scared, so they’re willing to bet on a system they know will work.”

She scoffed.

“There’s also a growing concern about the gifted system. Ever since the revolutionaries annulled all of the old gifted marriage contracts, more and more gifted people have entered relationships with non-gifted partners. Kinsey and his fraction consider this a threat to our existence. For obvious reasons.”

Her blood ran cold. A gifted person wouldn’t be able to procreate with a non-gifted partner. She swallowed hard. “So, what, they wanna re-establish the gifted system?”

“They’re advertising for it.”

“That’s ridiculous.” She jumped up. “Janet and Carson are working day and night to find a solution for our infertility problem. There are dozens of ways to solve the issue without forcing people into arranged marriages. What about in-vitro fertilization and surrogate mothers? If we worked closer with the Tok’ra and other alien races—”

“I know. We have a few influential people on our side, so I wouldn’t give up hope just yet. Just wanted to give you a heads-up, since reinstating the laws would affect you as well.”

Jaw clenching, Sam focused her attention back on the screen. Returning things to the way they used to be… Why did those propositions always come from the oldest members of the provisional government? Robert Kinsey, a man in his seventies, had particularly conventional ideas about government—and women.

Everything they’d accomplished, all the potential Earth had, now that the Aschen were gone… None of it seemed to matter. Nothing would change.

“How are you doing?” Daniel’s question pulled Sam out of her thoughts.

“I’m fine.” A lie that had grown so routine she didn’t even think about the answer anymore. If she said it often enough, maybe someday she’d start believing it herself. For a little while. Maybe someday, she would be able to say “I’m fine” again, and actually mean it.

“Any progress with the files?” Daniel leaned over her shoulder and looked at the computer.

“Oh, yeah. I was able to send another Terrabyte of medical info about the vaccine down to Janet’s lab this morning. They’re working through it as we speak. I also found some interesting statistics about the harvest. Maybe you can present it to the POA in their next meeting.” She handed a file to him.

Daniel flipped through the pages. “This is just what I need to prove our point.”

She leaned back. “It might be a good idea to keep the harvesting machines running, even if we over-produce for now. We would have a lot to offer to other worlds in terms of food for possible trade agreements. If we ever reopen the gate.”

“At this point, a lot of POA members think the Stargate is more of a risk than it’s beneficial to Earth. We don’t even have an army. And although Earth is equipped with Aschen defense systems, without the Aschen we’d stand no chance in an open war with alien races.”

“We have the resistance. I’d call that a pretty nice army.”

“You know, Elizabeth is actually with you on this. She tried to argue the same point today. But Kinsey interrupted her before she was finished. And since we’re not members of the POA our votes don’t count.” Daniel sighed.

“Elizabeth?”

“Yeah, Elizabeth Weir. The diplomat from the North I told you about last week. Very headstrong, very intelligent. You’d like her.” He closed the file and grinned at her. “Why don’t you come out to dinner with us tonight? Vala’ll be there too. She’d be thrilled.”

She swallowed. “I don’t know, Daniel. I have a lot of work and—”

“All you do these days is work.” He fixed his gaze on her. “Come on, it’ll be fun. There’s this cute little bar in town that looks a bit like O’Malleys.”

_O’Malley’s._ Her heart stung, but she tried hard to keep her face blank. Going anywhere and facing the prospect of Jack not being there… Would she be able to handle that? Especially if the place reminded her of O’Malley’s? “I think I’ll pass.”

“Come on. McKay will join us, too. You’ll meet a bunch of POA folks.”

“Daniel.” Sam shook her head. “I’d rather finish up with this batch of files.”

“Sam.” His voice softened. “Just for an hour or two. Come on.”

“I know what you’re trying to do. Please don’t.”

“You haven’t done anything but work since you came to Powhatan. You don’t even join poker nights anymore. Vala’s worried about you. I’m worried.”

“I just...” She looked up at him, forcing herself to smile. “I’m fine, really. Something always gets in the way.”

“Not tonight.” He straightened and folded his arms. “I’ll pick you up at six. No discussion.”

She sighed and looked at him. Should she waste her energy in a fight with him? Once Daniel set his mind on something it was easier to give in than to go into an endless debate about it. “Alright. I’ll come with. But only for an hour.”

“Great.” He pushed himself up. “I’ll see you at six then.”

Sam looked after him as he left the room. Ah, well. It was only one night. She’d stay an hour and then excuse herself. No big deal. As long as Daniel would leave her alone afterwards, it’d be worth the effort.

 

***

 

The door snaps open with a soft squeak. Just a crack. Nothing else.

He lifts his head and stares at it as though it’s become his sworn enemy, trying to trick him into a trap. Moments pass. Still nothing. The control panel next to the door has gone from red light to dark. No electricity?

At last, he crouches towards it. Hesitant. Careful. Nobody’s come to see him lately. They haven’t given him food or water. Maybe they want to starve him. He’d be fine with that. But now the door?

He gives it a careful kick. It opens further. No sound from the other end. Odd.

There must be a last shred of life in him, because he lifts himself up on shaky legs. His knee nearly gives out. No wonder, after they broke it twice.

He opens the door. His steps sound hollow in the deserted hallway. He looks around. Left. Right. Left again. Then behind him at the cell that’s been his home for as long as he can remember. He could use her help. Where is she when he needs her?

Then she appears. Smiling as usual, she steps to the center of the cell, her hips swaying softly. Her white garment flows around her curves. “It’s an electric lock mechanism. Something must have caused a blackout which automatically disabled the lock mechanisms.”

It’s the first time she speaks to him. He stares at her. He’s pretty sure she has to be a figment of his imagination—which either means he’s going nuts, or has a serious head injury. Maybe both.

“You’re dehydrated.” She seems to float towards him like a ghost. “They’re not coming back for you. You have to find a way out.”

Hallucination or not, she’s right. He turns and looks at the dark hallway again. It spins. Maybe he should stay and rest a while longer.

“You’ll feel better once you have water.”

He thinks he feels her warmth. She’s comforted him so many times, and he doesn’t wanna leave her. But when he turns, she’s gone.

  1. Her words resound in his thoughts. He needs water.



He stumbles along the dim corridor towards a door at the end. It opens without much effort. He nearly falls down a set of stairs. Then another. Then he moves on as though he’s in trance.

In a corridor on a lower level, he finally finds a washroom with a sink. It’s almost too good to be true. The cold fluid runs down his throat and he drinks. Drinks. Drinks until he’s nauseated. Then he drops down to the tiled floor and starts laughing maniacally.

He doesn’t know why, he just does. Until darkness creeps in and he collapses on the floor.

 

***

 

When Jack woke up, he had no idea where he was. Water splashed somewhere. He turned on the cold, hard floor and glanced around. A washroom?

Blinking, he sat up. His head pounded and the room spun before it stabilized. Water ran from a faucet into one of the sinks. He reached up and greedily took a few sips, then turned it off. When he straightened, he froze. A mirror reflected his image. Bruised, unkempt, bearded. A broken man.

He leaned forward. Was that really him?

Images flooded his mind and disorientation hit him hard. What day was it? What month? How much time had passed since they’d blown up the dialing device?

It was the last clear memory in his mind. Carter had left through the Stargate. He’d seen the event horizon close. Then the area inside the force field had turned into a massive fireball. But the field withstood most the explosion.

Aschen agents had arrested him. He’d resisted and they’d stunned him with a gun. After that everything became into a blur. When he tried to remember, the only images he could grasp were pain. Pain and terror.

The Aschen. He still had to be in one of their facilities.

Jack stumbled to the door. The hallway was clear. He ran, turned left, turned right, and ran again. Endlessly. Until at last he stumbled through a door outside onto the street. The air smelled almost as rotten as it had inside the prison. Or was that him?

He looked down at himself and grimaced. How long had he been in that cell without access to running water? Or even a toilet?

He looked around again. In the distance, a hovercraft lay on its side, burning. Two men ran across the street, screaming, followed by three others. Most windows on ground level were broken. What the hell had happened here? Surely their disabling the Stargate couldn’t have led to such destruction.

Daniel had said the Aschen would most likely be able to compensate for their missing Stargate.

He walked along the pavement. His smell mixing with the faint scent of burning wood from outside almost made him vomit. A buzz whizzed by above his head. Somehow familiar. He glanced up. Had that been a Goa’uld glider?

A fireball shot up from the ground in the distance, but missed the ship. The craft took a sharp turn upwards and vanished into the clouds. Definitely a Goa’uld glider.

He sped up. A Goa’uld attack explained the destruction. And why he’d seemingly been forgotten in his cell. Two blocks down the street, he stumbled over a person lying on the ground. Empty eyes stared up at him. A darkened hole gaped in the man’s stomach. A staff blast wound.

He wanted to move on, but then faltered. An Aschen. Wearing Aschen clothing. At least the jacket would still be valuable. And the pants. He leaned down and searched the man. In his pocket, he found the remnants of an ID card. Desperate times called for desperate measures. He pulled the man into a narrow walkway between two houses and undressed him.

After he’d changed into the dead man’s clothes, the ID in his pocket, he limped back onto the street. A siren wailed and slowly grew louder. The buzz of a hovercraft drifted from somewhere.

It stopped next to him. Jack tried to quicken his step, but his knee gave out. Groaning, he tumbled down on the hard pavement. Pain shot through his head and flashes danced in front of his eyes.  Somebody turned him onto his back.

“We’ve got another one here. Get me the medical service on the line.” Two male faces appeared in his line of vision. Aschen. “Easy, sir. You will be okay. You are safe now.”

They weren’t trying to hurt him. They were trying to help. Didn’t they know who he was?

One man reached into Jack’s pocket, pulled out the Aschen ID. They had to think he was one of them. Maybe there was hope after all. Provided the Goa’uld weren’t going to wipe the Aschen homeworld out.


	46. Compatible

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> This version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).
> 
>  
> 
> Now you can also find an ebook version of this story on my website, including lots of bonus material as well as the first publication version of Stargate Aschen. (Click image to download.)  
> 
> 
>   
>  [](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-free-stargate-sg-1-ebook/)   
>    
> 

Sam released a sigh and stirred her drink with the straw. What a mistake. She shouldn’t have agreed to come. Everyone was too cheerful. Vala talked about the newest clothes she’d bought at one of the Powhatan boutiques, Janet swooned over a man she worked with. So normal. So much like it used to be. And yet…

The first half hour smiling and nodding still came easy, but with every passing minute every smile and seemingly interested nod grew more exhausting. She could have stayed in her office and finished working through more of the medical data, then gone home to bed.

Maybe she should do that. She sneaked a glance at her watch. Eight thirty. One hour and a half should be enough to satisfy Daniel’s wish to get her to socialize.

She reached for the poncho hanging over the back of her chair when a warm hand landed on her arm. Confused, she lifted her head and met the dark eyes of a stranger.

“Hi.” He gave her a warm smile. Returning it wasn’t as exhausting.

“Hi.”

“Sam Carter, right?” He slid into the chair next to her.

Sam froze and lifted her brows. “Yes. And you are?”

“I’m sorry, how impolite of me. I’m Joe Faxon. I work with Dr. Jackson and Elizabeth.” He held her gaze, his eyes dancing with a warm twinkle.

Sam swallowed and nodded. Right. Daniel had mentioned him at some point. If she remembered correctly, he was a member of the POA. She looked into his brown eyes. Almost the same color as Jack’s had been. A pang stung her chest and she lowered her head. Home. She needed to go home.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Faxon, but was there anything in particular you wanted?”

“Except meeting you?” When she snapped her head up to stare at him, he flinched. “I’m sorry. That was probably the lamest line you’ve ever heard.”

His face reflected such an honest shame, she couldn’t stifle a chuckle. As he flashed her another smile, she found herself returning it. He seemed to be a decent guy. Definitely well-mannered.

“May I buy you a drink?”

“Actually, I…” She shifted in her seat. “I was just about to leave.”

“That’s too bad. I’d love to get to know the woman who came up with the brilliant plan to shut down the Stargate on the Aschen homeworld. And had the courage to carry out the plan herself.”

She fiddled with her hands. “It wasn’t entirely my idea, you know.” Jack had come up with the basic concept. She swallowed against a lump in her throat. “I should go.”

“Okay.” When she got up from her chair, he smiled and did the same. Perfect manners. “Maybe another time?”

She stared at him.

He chuckled. “A drink?”

“Oh.” Doubtful. “Sure. Maybe.”

She nodded politely and, clutching the poncho to her chest, hurried over to Vala and Daniel at the bar.

“Sammie.”

“Guys, I’m going home. It was nice hanging out.”

Daniel raised his brows. She knew he saw right through her lie. At least he had the sense to keep his mouth shut. She’d stood by her promise and showed up.

Vala pushed her lower lip forward. “Aww, already? The night has barely started.”

“I’m tired and I have to be up early tomorrow.”

Daniel took a sip of his drink. “What did Faxon want from you?”

“Oh, nothing.” She pulled the poncho over her head and smoothed her hair down.

He pushed his glasses up on his nose, confusion flashing in his eyes.

She shrugged. “I think he wanted to ask me out. Or something like that.”

“Oh.” He glanced at Faxon, who had joined another table with POA members again. “Did he bother you?”

“No. He was actually very nice. I’m just not in the mood to have drinks with someone.”

Vala pulled her into a hug. “Will I see you for poker night this weekend?”

“Maybe. If nothing comes up.” The standard answer she’d given every time the past two months. Somehow she couldn’t bring herself to attend social events. They took too much effort, too much smiling, too much banter.

Vala held her gaze for a long time, then nodded. “All right. Let me know if you need anything.”

“I will. Good night.”

“Night.”

She crossed the restaurant and left the place through the glass door at the entrance. As she stepped outside, crisp night air hit her face.

For once, she was glad they weren’t at camp anymore. It would’ve been impossible to retreat like this. Working in Powhatan and living in one of the old Aschen apartments gave her a lot more space and privacy.

Her throat tightened as she looked at the stars. The same as always. Still, they seemed so different. As though their glow had faded.

 

***

 

One advantage of skipping regular lunch time was that she had the cafeteria all to herself. Something faintly resembling contentment flooded her as she skimmed over the file lying next to her plate on the table.

Statistics. Memos. Correspondence. All she ever seemed to do nowadays was evaluate low-sensitive Aschen files.

“Hi again.”

At the familiar voice Sam looked up, brows scrunched. Joe Faxon grinned at her. “Is this seat taken?” He pointed at the chair opposite hers at her table.

“Um, no.” Damn. It was obvious it wasn’t taken. The cafeteria was almost empty and there were tons of other free tables. Did he have to sit at hers?

“This place is almost deserted this time of day.”

“Yeah.” She nodded. “They’re preparing dinner. Give it another hour and it’ll be crowded.”

“Seems you’re familiar with their schedule.”

“I like it better when it’s not overcrowded.” Maybe he’d get the hint?

“Good to know.” He gave her a boyish smile.

She swallowed. She’d have to be careful. It was hard to be annoyed around him. 

“So, what brings you here at this unusual hour?” she asked, more to divert the subject than out of earnest interest.

“Committee hearings.” He sighed. “Boring stuff. Old men being one step away from getting into a fistfight.”

Much to her surprise, a soft chuckle escaped her.

His eyes sparkled. “I can smuggle you in one of these days if you want to experience firsthand how boring it really is.”

She played with her fork while she held his gaze. “It’d be a nice distraction from evaluating these files.”

He went through the mashed potatoes and peas on his plate, and then broke the little biscuit that came as a side in half. “I don’t understand why they waste your capabilities on the Aschen files.”

She shrugged. “It’s important work.” _Yeah, right._

As if she didn’t know the answer to his question. She was a woman. And men like Kinsey didn’t want women to hold high-ranking positions. Especially not gifted ones. If it were up to them, women wouldn’t work at all, and unfortunately, they were the ones making the rules at the moment.

“It’s the job of a secretary,” Faxon blurted out. “No offense, but I think you would be more useful in one of the science facilities.”

She poked one pea on her plate onto her fork. “Tell that to the heads of the committee. Daniel… Dr. Jackson and Dr. McKay have already tried to convince them to let me work on a science team. At least they’re letting me do something at all.”

They fell silent for a moment. Suddenly the file she studied had lost her interest.

Faxon cleared his throat. “I have to admit, I’m really nervous.”

Sam raised her head. “Why?”

“Because I want to ask you out to dinner and I’ve no idea whether you’ll say yes, or throw your drink in my face.” His charming grin stirred something inside of her.

“You’ll take your chances.”

His smile widened. “Would you go out to dinner with me?”

She studied him. Daniel was right, he did seem like a nice guy. And oddly enough, her mood lightened up when she was around him. What was it about him that made her so at ease? “Okay.”

Her stomach gave a faint lurch when his eyes gleamed. “Wonderful. Tomorrow evening?”

“That works.”

Had she just agreed to go on a date? A knot replaced the faint tingling in her stomach. No date. She didn’t want a new relationship. No romance.

And yet… She sneaked a glance at Faxon. With his dark hair and the dimples in his cheek when he smiled, he was a good-looking man. Maybe a few years older than she was. Polite. Apparently with a good sense of humor.

They could be friends. Nothing more. Just a friend she could spend some time with. Someone not connected to all that had happened. Someone who could make her forget.

 

***

 

The following evening she went out with Joe. Despite her previous intentions to cut the dinner as short as possible, she found herself engaged in a deep conversation with him.

He had a basic understanding of theoretical physics and was eager to learn more. For the first time in months, something inside her stirred back to life. Smiling took less effort.

When the evening ended, and Joe asked her if she wanted to have dinner again, she agreed. Not to be polite, but because she had enjoyed their debates and the insights into the POA proceedings. Their discussions challenged her intellect and provided her with much needed distraction.

They went out for dinner again two days later. And then twice during the week after that. What had started out as politeness soon became a habit she looked forward to twice a week.

Just for a while, he made her forget about the emptiness inside, and the guilt that nagged at her like a constant whisper.

One night as he took her home after dinner, he walked closer to her than usual, his hand on her waist. His touch sent an unexpected tingle through her. She sneaked a glance at him. He was a nice and good-looking guy.

Guilt and betrayal stabbed at her insides. How could she even consider this after what had happened?

They reached her apartment building. She was about to turn and leave as she always did when he drew her closer and leaned in.

His warm lips brushed along hers, teasing ever so cautiously, as though she were deer he didn’t want to scare away. Warmth flooded her, and she took a step closer, increasing the contact. For just a moment, longing consumed her. How much she missed the closeness, the intimacy, the warm embrace. So familiar. She parted her lips, and his tongue darted inside, deepening the kiss. Maybe, for just a moment…

Subtle differences threw her off. The kiss was too gentle, even now that she’d signaled willingness. Different scent. Different taste. The way his hands roamed along her waist to her back and held her against him was too cautious.

_Jack…_

Pain ate at her and abruptly she took a step back, eyes still closed, hands on his chest. His warmth still lingered. “Joe, I… I’m sorry. I can’t…”

“It’s okay.” He nuzzled the hair at her temple. “I’m the one who’s sorry. I shouldn’t have been so straightforward.”

How could she make him understand the complexity of her emotions when she herself didn’t? How did one tell another person that suddenly nothing could bring her joy anymore? That the void inside her had become so strong, she almost didn’t even care anymore? “It’s not you, it’s me. I really like you. I’m just not ready.”

“We could take it slow. Or I can be content being in the friend zone.” There was that boyish smile again. He was a good man. And under different circumstances…

“Taking it slow sounds good.”

“Going slow requires us to go on a few more dates.” His eyes sparkled.

Dates. Somehow their evening dinners had turned into dates without her even noticing.

She cupped his face with her hands, then leaned in to place a soft kiss on his cheek. “I’d love to go out with you again. Good night.”

 

***

 

_Two weeks later_

 

This wasn’t taking it slow.

Sam closed her eyes as Joe’s hot lips trailed along her neck and shoulder. Her fingers threaded through his full hair that shimmered almost black in the dim moonlight leaking into the room between the curtains.

The entire evening had been anything but taking it slow. It had been two weeks since he’d first kissed her and she had backed out, but still…

Maybe it was the wine or the atmosphere. Or maybe she just couldn’t stand the thought of another night alone in her bed, with demons of the past haunting her until her pillow was soaked, and she fell asleep exhausted.

She couldn’t stand being alone. Just for a little while she needed to forget. Catch a glimpse of what her life had once been. Of what it might be again someday. She needed to know there was still hope.

After they’d entered his apartment, he’d undressed her as though she were made of glass, his touch so sweet and careful. When she’d taken some initiative undressing him, the shock on his face had almost made her laugh.

She’d been surprised to learn Joe was gifted, though she shouldn’t have been. All of the POA members were gifted. Most people working in Powhatan these days were.

Joe had told her about his experience in the breeding facilities. His sexual experiences were limited to two wives who’d been enduring at best, openly resisting at worst.

His lips dropped to her neck, traced a searing line down to her shoulder. A warm body, so intimately against hers. Sam closed her eyes as her fingers outlined his spine, his shoulder blades, his ribcage.

As he entered her in a movement too gentle to match the passion she needed, she looked at him. The moonlight illuminated his features. Tender, loving dark eyes burned with appreciation.

She drew him closer, her thighs grazing his hips. Pleasure tingled through her veins as he dropped his head to spill kisses down her neck and throat. His hips picked up a slow, steady rhythm.

Her gaze locked on the weird patterns on the ceiling. The light of the streetlamps created a bizarre shadow play. Beautiful woodwork. It was a beautiful apartment. In a good neighborhood. Such a long time since she’d had sex in a bed.

The last time had been… Guilt washed over her. Bad train of thought. Why was she thinking at all? She shouldn’t be thinking now.

She closed her eyes. Sweet friction. Soft, searing kisses on her skin, a warm body against her, chasing away the ghosts of a past she couldn’t bring back.

She opened her eyes again. Joe was different from her type. Did she have a type? Larek didn’t really count, and after that she’d only been with… No. She bit her lower lip. Pleasure. No thinking.

Arousal tingled through her when Joe hit just the right spot inside. Gasping, she pulled one of her legs up further, caressing his side with her inner thigh.

Oh god, yes. She bit her lower lip. This had the potential to become good.

When he slowed down again, disappointment flooded her and the lust faded. Concern masked his features. Apparently he’d misunderstood her reaction for discomfort.

Well, at least he was caring. Her fingers traced the muscles on his back, and the subtle differences entered her consciousness. He wasn’t that well-trained, and his body wasn’t as strong.

Images of how Jack had taken her filled her mind. He’d always known how and where to touch. He’d taken charge without cornering her. Overthinking had never been a problem with him. God if only… Need washed over her. If only…

The fantasy brought back her need, and she arched. She shouldn’t do this. She shouldn’t fantasize about another man. What kind of horrible woman was she? She stared up at the ceiling again. She needed to focus on the now. On Joe.

After a short eternity, the soft tingle of pleasure awakened in her belly. Almost relieved, she released a sigh. She was getting there. Finally. Great. Now… if she focused, it’d take only a few more…

The feeling ebbed away. Apparently, trying to force it wasn’t a good idea. Frustration made her groan. For a second, he increased his pace. So unexpected that she grunted in an onslaught of sheer lust. _God, yes. Please._

She opened her eyes and cupped his cheeks with her hands, searching for words to communicate what she needed. Her cheeks warmed. Words failed her.

Instead she grazed her inner thighs along his hips in teasing caresses and locked her legs around him, making him move deeper and faster.

When she finally came, it wasn’t breathtaking or mind shattering. A soft tingling sensation rippled through her, made her take a sharp breath, and then was over before it had even begun.

Well, that was that then.

He moved above her for another one or two minutes. After he’d finished, he rolled over to her side. Cold air hit her skin, and she missed his weight.

Emptiness swallowed her insides with a vengeance. Not even sex was as it used to be. A lump built in her throat. She closed her eyes. What on Earth was wrong with her?

Joe shifted. His warm palm caressed her stomach, and she turned her head. He leaned on his elbow. As he caressed her cheek, he smiled. “Did you… I mean, was it good for you?”

She forced a smile and nodded. “Yes, sure.”

It had been good for the short while it lasted. She couldn’t ask for more, could she? As he leaned in to draw her into a deep kiss, she opened her mouth. He drew the kiss out, gentle, careful. Almost chaste.

“I’ve never met a woman like you, Sam.”

His eyes shimmered with such honest appreciation, she had to lean up and place a kiss on his soft lips.

“I really like you.” His breath washed warm over her mouth and chin. 

“I like you, too.” If only she could say it with the same enthusiasm.

He was a nice man, caring, gentle, and very smart. He deserved a woman who fully and unconditionally loved him. But… could she be that woman? They had a lot in common. He respected her.

She could do worse.

The clock on the nightstand ticked away the seconds as his breathing slowed. Sam remained unmoving and stared at the wall. 

There were worse things than being lonely. Being lonely she could stand. Being lonely was hard at times. But being lonely while being with someone was almost unbearable.

Her throat tightened, and she swallowed hard. Her eyes stung. Why was this happening? It had been a wonderful evening. Spending the night with Joe was supposed to make her forget. So why couldn’t she enjoy herself? Why couldn’t she just let go?

After another minute, she slid out of his embrace. Out. She had to get out before she broke.

Careful not to wake him, she slipped out from under the sheets. Sneaking around the room on bare feet, she picked up her discarded underwear and the black dress she’d been wearing that night. Hurriedly, she got dressed, and then brushed her fingers through her hair. Thoughtful, she looked out the window.

Powhatan lay calm and quiet. Flickering solar lamps illuminated parts of the street. They blurred in front of her eyes. She inhaled on a hitched breath. Just a little longer. She couldn’t break here, now.

“Leaving already?”

Startled, she spun. Joe leaned on his elbows and studied her through dark eyes. 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t wanna wake you.”

“That’s obvious.” Definitely hurt.

She closed her eyes. Hurting him was the last thing on her mind.

“I have to start work early in the morning.” What a lame excuse.

“You could stay over.”

“I don’t have my stuff here.” Even lamer. She wrapped her arms around herself and looked at the door. “I think it’s easier if I—”

“We could get up early and drop by your place.”

She met his gaze, then softly shook her head. “I’m sorry. I just…I really have to go.” She turned and rushed out the room, then the apartment, before he could try to talk her into staying. It was too much, too soon.

She clutched her arms as she hurried down the stairs. She wouldn’t break. Not now. Not ever. She’d managed to hold out for weeks. She was fine.

When she opened the main glass door downstairs to step outside into the crisp night air, she bit back a sob.

_Just breathe._ Hands fisting, she hurried down the street. Her eyes stung. She broke into a run and held her breath.

It was no use. After two blocks, she steadied herself against the glass wall of a house to keep from tumbling. Trembling, she slid down the wall, her breath hitching uncontrollably as she stared up into the dark, starless sky. She released a desperate scream as she finally surrendered to her tears.

Four months since she’d lost him. There was nothing she had done about it. Jack. The one man she’d wanted to be with had died. All her work, all her studies, all her training had been useless in the one moment when it really mattered.

 

***

 

_One week later_

 

“I think it would be a good idea if we got married.”

Sam choked on the piece of potato and hurried to cover her mouth with a napkin. The man at the table next to them turned his head with raised eyebrows. Her cheeks warmed. This place was way too fancy for her. How was it possible a place like this still existed in the current situation on Earth?

Four months had passed since the revolution. Earth was falling apart. Sometimes it seemed like Powhatan had turned into an island where the gifted created their own little world without caring what was going on in the rest of the world.

She blinked at Joe opposite her. Had he really just said what she thought? She lowered her voice. “Excuse me?”

“Considering they’ll reinstate the gifted laws next week, don’t you think it’d be a good idea?”

Moments like these reminded her, just how different the worlds they came from were. He’d lived in the gifted system. He’d gone through two marriages with women he didn’t even know before the weddings. She’d spent the past year and a half fighting against this system.

“Joe, I like you, I really do. But this comes a bit unexpected and… Don’t you think it’s a little fast?”

“ _A little fast_? Sam, we’ve been on nine dates. We have similar interests. We get along well.” He leaned in and lowered his voice. “And we’ve established that our marital duties won’t be a burden.”

Sam flinched. How could he make it sound so clinical? “It’s not enough for me.”

“What else do you expect?” He leaned back and studied her with a serious expression. “It’s already more than what most couples could hope for.”

“Most _gifted_ couples.” She put the napkin down. 

“We _are_ gifted.”

Right. After all this time with the resistance, she still sometimes forgot about the restrictions society put on her.

“Joe. Please don’t misunderstand this. I like you. But I need more than that. I can’t have a marriage without love.”

He shook his head, confusion crossing his features. “Love isn’t a concern in marriage arrangements.”

“It’s a concern for me.”

“Samantha, we don’t have the freedom to love.”

Sam closed her eyes. She hated it when he called her that. _Samantha._

“I need more than a few weeks of dating.” She placed her fork at the side of her plate. She wasn’t hungry anymore.

“A marriage wouldn’t have to change anything.” He placed his warm hand on hers.

She raised her eyebrows at him. “It’s a marriage. Of course it changes things. We’d live together, share our lives. We’d be together for the _rest_ of our lives.”

“Yes. But we’d both be safe from forceful re-marriage.” His hand squeezed hers. “I like you. I don’t want you to have to go through that process. You wouldn’t have to if you chose me. Neither of us would.”

Her stomach clenched. Kinsey had secured the majority on the POA. Reinstating the gifted laws also meant they’d re-open the breeding facilities. If she wasn’t already engaged or married to a gifted man…

Joe sighed and shook his head, sympathy flashing in his eyes. “You wouldn’t have to give up your work right away if that’s what worries you.”

She withdrew her hand from his. “Right away?” Jaw clenching, she studied him. “But at some point I would have to, is that what you’re saying?”

“Sam, we’re gifted. We would have to have children. I think it would only be logical to include that in our plans.”

He was planning their lives as if it was the schedule for the next day’s POA meeting. “What if I don’t want that?”

“What do you mean?” He stared at her as though her refusal was so bizarre he couldn’t even begin to grasp it.

“What if I don’t want children, or to give up my work? Or both?” She ignored the guy at the table next to them, who had turned his head once more.

Joe gave him an apologetic smile and leaned forward to take Sam’s hand again. “I don’t think there’s much of a choice to make. It’s natural you’ll have children. We both have a responsibility, and under the laws we don’t have much choice. Besides, it would be self-centered if we didn’t have children given the situation.”

She gaped at him. Self-centered? Yes, humanity needed to procreate to increase numbers, but wasn’t it much more promising to seek a cure against the infertility to ensure the survival of the human race in the long run? Wasn’t that what they had fought for?

“Sam. There aren’t many gifted people on Earth. So what do you think will happen if we allowed gifted people to refuse having children?”

Sam narrowed her eyes. “So everything will return to the status quo? You’ll force women away from their homes to pair them up with strangers? And if they resist, they’ll be tied up and drugged until the guy is done with her?”

“I wish you wouldn’t put it like that.”

“How would you like me to put it?” She jerked her hand out of his once again and folded her arms. Her pulse raced. “I can’t believe you support this.”

“Sam.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “I never said I supported it. But at this point there’s nothing I can do about it.”

She scoffed and took her glass of wine to gulp some of the bitter red liquid down. This could not be happening.

“I’m proposing marriage so neither of us will have to go through that. You think I enjoyed my first two marriages?”

“Especially because you experienced the misery of the gifted system, I thought...” She shook her head. If only she could brush his argument off the table. But once the old laws turned valid again, she’d have to report to one of the breeding facilities—unless she was already married, or had promised marriage to a gifted man. “We’d have to undergo genetic tests first.”

“Don’t worry. I already took care of that. We’re a perfect match.”

“You _what_?” Ice poured into her veins and her insides knotted. “You…you accessed my genetic profile? Behind my back?”

“I wanted to see if we were compatible before jumping into this relationship.”

“ _Jumping into_ …” If the situation hadn’t been so bizarre, she’d have broken into laughter. “Did you only ask me out because some computer said we’re compatible?”

“I wish you would look at this more reasonably. You’re a scientist after all. Or at least something like that.”

She threw the napkin down next to her plate. “ _Something like that_?” Why did she even put up with this? 

Joe lifted his hands.  “Okay, that came out wrong. I meant you don’t have a degree, but you know a thing or two about genetics, and the consequences of too much common ancestry.”

“How nice of you to acknowledge skills that go beyond my breeding qualities.” She glared at him.

He sighed. “Come on, Sam.”

“You didn’t answer my question. Did you just ask me out because of some test result?”

He hesitated for a moment. “Initially, yes. I asked you out because I learned you’re gifted. And the analysis showed we were compatible mates.”

Oh God. She closed her eyes. He’d only thought of her as a potential wife all this time? Analyzed how compatible they’d be? “I don’t believe this. I don’t believe _you_. No, actually I don’t believe that I was so stupid to think you cared about me.”

“I do. We’re good together. We have great conversations and fun together.”

She released a shaky breath. This couldn’t be happening. All the fights in the past one a half years. All she’d been through. All the resistance had done. _It was all in vain._

“Think about it.” His voice gentled. “If we didn’t pair up, you might get stuck with someone like Kinsey—or worse. At least now we still have a choice.”

As much as she hated to admit it, she couldn’t ignore that argument. “We fought so hard to overturn the old ways. For years.” She closed her eyes. “Some of us sacrificed a lot for that.”

“I’m aware of all that the resistance did. But the laws we’re following now are no longer Aschen laws. They’re human laws passed by a human government.”

“A _provisional_ government that wasn’t even elected. The majority of the people don’t support Kinsey and his faction.”

“I don’t think that matters. The majority of the people aren’t gifted.”

“So, what, they don’t get to have a say in the government?”

“A lot of POA members think that being born gifted is a privilege that should come with a certain exclusive status.” Joe leaned back in his chair.

She stared at him. “So it’s not really about the survival of the human race then, is it? It’s about power. And about creating an elite upper class that somehow feels more privileged than the rest just because of some genetic game of dice.”

Dinner was over. She shoved up from her chair.

“Sam, wait. What are you doing?” He leaned forward, his face softening. “I didn’t say I shared their opinion.”

“You keep saying that, but it doesn’t sound like you’re trying very hard to oppose them either. If you’ll excuse me now.” She turned and marched out of the room.

How could she have been so wrong about him?

A select group of men seizing power. Old laws being reinstated. This was definitely not what the resistance had fought for all this time.

 

***

 

The next day, Sam had immersed herself in studying district management reports when the glass doors to her office swooshed open. She looked up, expecting to see either Daniel or her dad, who’d said he’d be back this week from a prisoner transport to the Aschen homeworld.

Joe strolled in, a cautious smile on his face. Her stomach tightened. No wonder after their disastrous dinner last night.

“Hey.”

“Hi.” She straightened in her seat.

He held her gaze for a long time. “I wanted to apologize for last night. I didn’t mean for our dinner to end that way.”

“Neither did I. But… Sometimes it feels like all our sacrifices were for nothing.”

He sat down on the second chair next to her desk. “Unfortunately, Kinsey is the most powerful man on Earth at the moment. Please don’t think I agree with his decisions. But he has too much influence. Many on the POA consider the resistance traitors.”

Her jaw clenched. All these years the resistance had fought for the gifted people. To end their misery. And to think that they of all people now labeled them traitors… “Do you share their opinion?”

“No.” He leaned forward and took her hand. “Of course not. But what I think doesn’t matter. Politics isn’t about my opinion. Or yours. It’s about who’s making the laws.”

“What did we even fight for if nothing changes anyway?”

“We can’t change everything in a day. Give it time. We have to make concessions if we want to convince Kinsey and his group to reopen the Stargate.”

When Joe drew her hand to his mouth and dropped a tender kiss on her palm, she closed her eyes. Forgiving him shouldn’t be so easy. If only there weren’t so much merit behind his arguments.

“Sam, I care about you. I never wanted to be with you just because you’re gifted. Yes, I checked your genetic profile before we met.” Sighing, he shook his head. “I was in love with a young woman in the town I lived in. We wanted to marry as soon as we both turned twenty-five. It turned out I was gifted. She wasn’t. I was transported to the breeding facility, assigned an apartment in Powhatan and never saw her again.”

She leaned forward and took his hands. “Why?”

“They didn’t allow people to keep ties to former lovers. The day they came to get me, I knew I’d never see her again. It broke my heart.” Pain flashed in his eyes. “The POA has discussed reestablishing the old laws for a while, so I knew it was only a matter of time. I didn’t want to risk falling for a non-gifted woman again, only to have the laws tear us apart. I wanted to make sure we could have a future.”

Her throat tightened. “I didn’t know that.” Could she blame him for not wanting to get hurt? He was just trying to survive in a system that imposed severe restrictions on his life. So was she. “You have to understand where I’m coming from. I ran away from home to escape a forced marriage.”

“I know.” Joe kissed her hand again, this time higher, closer to her pulse point. “If there were a way to circumvent the law, I wouldn’t propose it. We can talk about things and we get along. I don’t think it’ll get any better than you. Don’t you think we could make it work? Somehow? We’d have two years until you have to get pregnant. We could take our time.”

Two years… Her stomach clenched. She looked down to where their hands were still linked. What were her options? Did she want to run away again?

Last time, the possibility that she’d find the resistance and fight the Aschen had driven her. But now? The Aschen were gone. There was no resistance. Humans imposed the laws on her.

Who was the enemy now? Who was she supposed to turn to? Even if she left Earth through the Stargate, where should she go? Running away meant she’d have to run for the rest of her life and leave all her friends behind. Vala. Janet. Daniel. Her dad.

Maybe a marriage with Joe didn’t feel like the happily ever after she’d hoped for. But considering the alternative…

If she was paired up with a man, she’d have to accept whomever they chose for her. And if she refused to comply, she’d be taken to one of the breeding facilities, where they’d make sure she couldn’t fight him. She’d only be permitted to leave it once he got her pregnant.

Ice poured into her veins. Compared to that, a marriage with Joe seemed merciful. He wouldn’t hurt her. Or force her to have sex with him. And maybe, over time, she’d even learn to love him.

“I’ll think about it.” She looked down to where their hands were joined.

He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a rolled up piece of paper tied together with a little red ribbon. “Here. Take your time. Since I already asked, we should do it right.”

Hands shaking, she took the paper. A contract of engagement. The room spun, and the knot in her stomach tightened.

He drew her hand to his lips once more. “A marriage will protect us both. I don’t want to see you get hurt, Sam. And I promise, I’ll do everything to make you happy.”

Her heart warmed. She knew he’d stand by that promise. Was it such a bad idea to make sure she was safe?

“I’ll protect you if you let me,” he said.

Protection. Once, she’d been able to protect herself. Her eyes stung, and she lowered her gaze to the paper in her hand. Nothing seemed to be worth protecting anymore. She’d run away, and now she was at the same point where she’d begun a year and a half ago.

“Okay.”

His thumb drew circles on her pulse point, and she reveled in the touch. “Will you have dinner with me tomorrow?”

She nodded and forced a smile, but the words wouldn’t come.

“I’ll pick you up at seven then?”

“Okay.”

He got up, leaned in and placed a tender kiss on her lips that made her stomach do a lurch, but it couldn’t dispel the lump in her throat.

When he left, she sat frozen in her chair. Somehow everything had turned out differently from what she’d thought. She’d always assumed once the Aschen were gone, all her problems would be solved. And now?

She was out of options. Either she ran away and spent her entire life in fear that somebody would discover her real identity, or she faced the reality that she was gifted. As it was, she still had a choice about whom to marry, a last shred of control over her future. Did she really want to turn that down?

 

***

 

_Samantha Carter._

Sam let the pen sink and stared at her signature on the engagement contract. The black ink dried slowly.

Why did she feel as though she was signing her own execution? It wasn’t the end of the world. She’d be safe from the breeding facilities. Safe from being raped. Safe from forceful pregnancy—at least for now.

Jack was dead, and she was out of options.

_So I’ll end up in a loveless marriage after all._


	47. Shattered

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> This version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).
> 
>  
> 
> Now you can also find an ebook version of this story on my website, including lots of bonus material as well as the first publication version of Stargate Aschen. (Click image to download.)  
> 
> 
>   
>  [](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-free-stargate-sg-1-ebook/)   
>    
> 

“Hey kiddo.”

Sam’s heart jumped. She snapped her head up and turned as her dad stepped through the open glass door into the computer room.

“Dad. Finally you’re back.” She crossed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around him. He seemed to grow younger and younger every day. Selmak had a positive influence—not just on his general health, but also his temper. 

“It’s good to be home.” He looked around, his forehead wrinkled as though he were assessing the room. “Still buried in the mass of data?”

“It’s a lot of files.”

“And they don’t have anyone else who can take care of them?” He raised his eyebrows studying her.

Behind him, the door opened. Joe stepped in and hesitated when his gaze fell on her dad. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“Joe,” Sam said. “Come in. Dad, I want you to meet Joe.”

Forehead still scrunched, her dad turned and gave the younger man a distant nod. “We know each other. Joe Faxon, right? You were the one advertising the city planning project in front of the committee. Interesting approach you had.”

“That’s right, sir. Thank you. It’s great to meet you.” The two shook hands.

Her father turned his head to her, his face still wearing that quizzical expression as he withdrew his hand. “It’s a pleasure meeting you.”

“Dad, there’s something we need to tell you.” She fidgeted. Would her father accept her decision? He’d mellowed out since his blending with Selmak. But would he welcome Joe to his family? She took Joe’s hands. “We’re engaged.”

Blankly, he stared from her to Joe. Back to her. “You’re what?”

Okay, definitely not mellow. Great. She closed her eyes. “I signed the engagement contact two days ago. Dad, I’m marrying Joe.”

Her father shifted. “Sam, I wish you’d—”

“We’ll sign the official marriage contract next week, sir,” Joe said.

Sam flinched when her dad’s face darkened. He’d never liked being interrupted.

Jacob folded his arms and turned to Sam. “When I left for my last mission six weeks ago, you didn’t even know each other. And now you two are getting married? Don’t you think that’s a little fast?”

She sighed. “Dad.”

“Sam, we need to talk. Mr. Faxon, would you excuse us please?”

Joe didn’t move.

“Joe, please.” She gave him an imploring look.

He dropped his arms. “Fine, I’ll be outside.”

As soon as the door swooshed shut behind him, she folded her arms. “Dad, what the hell was that all about? Joe is a nice guy.”

“You can’t marry him.” Her father sighed and dropped into the chair at the desk.

“This isn’t your choice. I signed the engagement contract. The deal’s done.”

He groaned. “Sam, there’s something you have to know.”

“They reinstated the old gifted laws. If I weren’t with Joe, they’d assign me a husband. Joe is kind and gentle, and he’ll treat me well. At least this way I still had a choice of who I’d marry.” Or so she told herself.

Jacob raised his eyebrows. “Is that what you’re settling for these days? You ran away from home and joined the resistance to fight against those laws.”

“Things change.” She couldn’t keep the bitterness out of her voice.

“What about love?”

“I’m gifted, dad. Love doesn’t have anything to do with marriage. You yourself told me that once. I like Joe.” Shouldn’t he be happy that she was finally coming around and thinking about her future? Her safety? He’d tried to keep her safe when he and Jack and signed the marriage contract over her head. Back then, it had been all about securing a safe future for her. Now she would be safe. So why the change of heart?

“That doesn’t sound like the young woman I knew. The one who ran away and made it around half the globe on the off chance that we might liberate Earth.”

“And where did that get us?” She waved her hands around. “Nothing has changed. Just the face of our oppressors. We lost so much. _I_ lost so much. For what? I’m tired of losing things.”

“So you’re giving up?” He rose from his chair. “Revolutions take time and we’re only at the beginning. Conflicts are to be expected.”

“And how do _you_ know so much about revolutions?”

“Through Selmak,” he snapped.

Right. Selmak. Sometimes it was easy to forget that her father now had access to over two-thousand years of memories from his Tok’ra symbiote.

“You really think you’re going to be happy living like that? Settling?”

“It doesn’t matter anymore. I signed the engagement contract, that makes the deal binding.” She sighed. “Please. Can’t you just this once give me your blessing?”

Jacob ran his hand over his face with a groan. “It’s not that simple. See, what I actually wanted to talk to you about was—“

Behind her, the door swooshed open, effectively interrupting whatever he was about to say. Both of them turned.

A man strolled in.

_Jack…_

Sam froze and her throat went dry. The room spun and she had to grab the edge of her desk for balance. She had to be dreaming.

This was impossible. This had to be a trick. Her Jack had died on the Aschen homeworld. He couldn’t be here.

She scanned his large frame, his face, the same gray, ruffled hair and the same blank expression on his face. The same deep, dark eyes. There was no doubt about it. The man who had entered her office looked exactly like Jack O’Neill.

“Missed me?” The same voice. That same hint of a smirk around his mouth.

This couldn’t be a trick.

“Sam?” her dad said. “That’s what I tried to tell you. Jack survived. He was arrested by the Aschen and spent almost three months in one of their prisons. During Ba’al’s attack on the Aschen homeworld, he managed to make it to one of Ba’al’s ships and got captured by him. Luckily, one of our Tok’ra operatives was there and realized who he was. He sent us a message, so we could extract him. Now I just wish we’d gotten here sooner.”

Sam stared at him. Somehow his words didn’t compute. “How?”

Jacob squeezed her shoulders. “The force field contained the explosion.”

“But…you said…” She couldn’t draw her eyes from Jack. “Everyone said the force field wasn’t strong enough.”

“We were wrong, kiddo.”

“It’s been almost four months.” Her voice came out almost toneless.

Jack took a careful step towards her. “It’s me, Carter.”

“We did blood tests and confirmed his identity.” Her father released her. “There’s no doubt. It’s him.”

She covered her mouth with her hands. His face blurred. Jack scrunched his brows, concern masking his face.

She didn’t dare move, not even as he finally came to stand right in front of her. If she moved, if she touched him, would he vanish into thin air? Would she wake up from a dream and find herself in an empty bed like so many times before?

“C’mere.” At last, he reached out. His hand grazed hers, then his warm palm closed around her wrist. He didn’t disappear. She reached out, touched his face with trembling fingers, breathed in his scent. He was alive. Here. Right in front of her. How often had she dreamed of this moment?

“Oh God.” She trembled when he buried his face in her neck. Her throat tightened. “I thought you were… The explosion… I thought…”

His hand cupped her cheek. “So did I. I got lucky.”

“I thought I’d lost you forever.”

“I know.” He pulled her close again, and this time she dared to trail her fingers across his back.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Well, the knee’s ruined. My shoulder’s gonna take forever to heal. Aside from that I’m as good as new, now that I’m home.”

Still the old sarcasm. She gave an unsteady chuckle.

A second later, reality slammed into her and her stomach clenched. She’d promised marriage to another man.

Nausea threatened to overwhelm her. “ _Oh God_.”

“What?” He raised his brows.

Her dad cleared his throat. “Jack, we may have a bit of a situation here.”

“Um. Would anybody mind telling me what’s going on?” Joe’s voice drifted from the door. She closed her eyes. No, no, no. What now? She was legally Joe’s now. She’d signed an engagement contract. Which was as good as a marriage contract—just a bit less formal.

Her father nodded at Jack. “Mr. Faxon, may I introduce Jack O’Neill?”

“O’Neill?” Joe raised his brows, then his face lit up. “Oh, of course, Jack O’Neill. It’s a pleasure meeting you. We all thought you died on the Aschen homeworld.”

“Yeah, well, I’d call that an exaggeration.” Jack studied the other man before he shook his hand.

“Jack, this is Joe Faxon.” Jacob glanced at Sam, who winced and closed her eyes.

“My fiancé.”

After a moment of deafening silence, Jack turned toward her. “Your _what_?”

“I’m so sorry… I thought you were dead and...” God, what had she done?

Joe stood next to her, his hand on the small of her back. She tensed against the touch. If only he’d been away for a moment longer, so she could’ve explained the situation to Jack.

She had made her peace with her decision and her new life. But now? Knowing Jack was alive, how was she supposed to marry another man? To stand another man’s touch, his kisses, sharing his bed?

“Jack.” If only she could tell him how badly she’d missed him. Wanted him. Needed him. But since she was legally bound to Joe, it would hardly be appropriate.

Jack’s face darkened as he locked his gaze with Joe’s. “Last time I checked, she was my wife. Contract and all. I believe, marriage contract trumps engagement contract.”

“Not quite.” Joe cleared his throat. “The old marriage contracts of gifted people were annulled during the reorganization period. She’s not your wife anymore.”

“He’s right, Jack,” her dad said, his hand on Jack’s shoulder.

“I see.” Something dark flashed in Jack’s eyes before his gaze shifted from Joe to Sam.  “In that case. Congratulations.”

Shoulders tight, he turned and walked out of the room without another word.

She stared after him, her gut wrenching as though someone squeezed the life out of her. _Don’t go._ She pushed Joe’s arms away and ran out of her office.

“Jack.” She hurried along the corridor to catch up with him. “Jack, please…”

At last, he slowed and turned. “Look, it’s fine. I promised I’d never hold you to our marriage contract. You never wanted it anyway. I’m happy for you.”

Bitterness? Her throat constricted. “Don’t…” She shook her head.

“Don’t what?”

Oh God, how could he do that? How could he just let her go? “Jack, please. I want—“

“Sam?” Joe’s voice drifted from behind her.

He’d followed her into the hallway. She closed her eyes and suddenly wished he was gone. That she’d never met him. No, that wasn’t fair. He was a good man. He just wasn’t Jack.

She looked at Jack, pleading. “Give me just one minute. And then let’s talk about this, okay?”

When his face remained blank, she turned toward Joe.

“Sam?” Joe reached for her hand. “What’s going on?”

She pulled her hand out of his. “Can you leave us alone for a moment?”

“Um, Sam…” He looked over her shoulder.

She turned. Jack had walked away. Just like that. As though the four months they’d been together had never happened.

 

***

 

Jack looked around the white hallway. Aschen apartment buildings sure were a lot more comfortable than ordinary ones. Hopefully Daniel wouldn’t ask too many questions. Even though he’d been back for only a few hours, the news of his return had spread like wildfire, and everybody he met seemed to be interested in what had happened to him on the Aschen homeworld. Not something he wanted to talk about.

When the door behind him opened, he turned. Daniel stared at him and pushed his glasses further up on his nose.

“Daniel.”

“Jack.”

“Can I bunk here for a coupla days?” He didn’t wait for an answer but entered the apartment.

“Hi Jack, glad you’re back. Long time no see.” The door clicked shut.

Jack rolled his eyes. He really wasn’t in the mood for Daniel’s passive aggressive tantrums. “Hi Daniel, good to see you. How are things?” He dropped on the couch. When Daniel stared at him, he gave him an annoyed look. “What?”

“How are _you_?”

“Can we not talk about that?”

“Um, okay.” Daniel pushed his hands into his pockets. “Have you talked to Sam yet?”

“Really don’t wanna talk about that, either.” He leaned back. “You got a beer?”

“Um, sure.” Daniel left the living room.

Jack stared at the white wall. Anger welled up inside him when he thought about Carter and Faxon. Ironic, that, because of the resistance and their coup, she was now Faxon’s. If the resistance hadn’t annulled the marriage contracts…

He closed his eyes when images flooded his mind. How intimately Faxon had held her hands. How close he’d stood to her. His stomach clenched in rage. He wanted to break that guys arm.

Enough. He didn’t need another source of anger. He shifted and tried to release the tension in his muscles. His head had ached for days. And the flashbacks… Somehow instead of getting better, everything had gotten worse since he’d left the Aschen homeworld.

In the Aschen prison, he’d never had nightmares. He’d dreamed of Carter. But now…

“Here.” Daniel returned and held a bottle of beer out to him.

“Thanks.” Jack opened it and took a swig. 

“You gonna tell me what happened?”

When Daniel sat down on the couch next to him, Jack turned his head and frowned at him. “Carter signed an engagement contract with Faxon.”

“I know that. And?”

“And what?”

“You didn’t even talk to her?”

“What’s the point?” He flipped the cap to the garbage can in the corner. “Legally, an engagement contract is as good as a marriage contract. It’s over.” He glared at his friend. “And don’t ask me how I feel about that now, or I’m gonna shoot you.”

Daniel’s eyebrows climbed. “Okay, I won’t ask.”

“Thanks.”

Silence. Thank God. Jack savored his beer. When Daniel turned toward him again, he almost groaned.

“Jack, what the hell’s the matter with you? We’re talking about Sam here.”

“Oh for cryin’ out loud.” Suddenly, he took profound interest in the label of his beer. Was it just him, or had these bottles gotten smaller since he left? He’d need more of these. Maybe that would let him get some sleep tonight. “We dated for four months. Will you stop acting like it was four years?”

“You were married.”

“On paper.”

“Good enough,” Daniel said.

“Not for her, apparently.”

“Jack, it’s not her fault. We _all_ thought you were dead, and we all tried to deal with everything that happened.”

“What do you want me to do? Give her a medal for giving it a few months instead of fucking the next best guy the day after?”

Anger flashed in Daniel’s eyes. “What the hell’s wrong with you?”

“What the hell’s wrong with _you_? I said, let it go. I don’t wanna talk about it.” Jack glowered at the wall. Somehow, his entire life was falling apart.

Why wasn’t he strong enough to handle what had happened on the Aschen homeworld? He had solo-mission training for crying out loud. He’d fought the Aschen for over a decade, and he’d been trained in withstanding their interrogation methods.

Why did he keep seeing Boren’s face in his dreams? And the flashbacks… the pain… His knee gave a faint sting.

_The white room. He can’t move. The questions… Then, when he refuses to answer them, the hammer smashing down on his knee. The pain and the horrible crunch as his bone cracks._

Jack closed his eyes and took the last gulp from his beer. Forget. He needed to forget. “You got another one of these?”

Daniel scoffed. “Help yourself. They’re in the fridge.”

 

***

 

That evening, when Sam entered Joe’s apartment, her heart felt heavy. There was no easy way to do this, but she had to give it a try. She couldn’t just give up now, not when it would affect the rest of her life. For the first time in four months, she had something worth fighting for. She closed the expensive oak door softly.

“I can’t marry you.” The words echoed in her head as though somebody else had said them.

The enormity of what she was asking of him almost crushed her. Dissolving their relationship meant he’d have to find another gifted woman before they’d force him into the breeding facility. Could she really ask that of him?

Since he had her signature on the engagement contract, he could insist on the engagement. If he did that, she’d have no choice but to marry him.

Joe froze. “What?”

“I’m sorry. I know we had an agreement, and I signed the contract.” She lifted her head, and bit her lower lip. “But circumstances were different. If I’d known…”

He studied her for a long moment. “This is about O’Neill, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Mostly.” She released a sigh. “It’s about all of this.” She waved around his apartment. As a committee member and gifted male, he’d been assigned one of the most luxurious apartments in Powhatan.

Joe straightened, confusion flashing on his face.

“This place. The fancy restaurants and dresses. A marriage without love. Just giving up and accepting the gifted system. I thought I could do it, but today…” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “It’s not me. You’re a good friend and I like you, but that’s not enough.”

He took a step back from her and sank down into one of the armchairs. “I was told your marriage with O’Neill was arranged by your father. But you really love him, don’t you?”

She nodded. “I do.” This wasn’t fair, not to Joe and not to Jack. What had she done? “I know you have the legal right to insist on a formal marriage.” She knelt in front of the armchair. “Please. I’m asking you, as your friend, to let me out of it.”

“Friend.” Joe sighed. “I’d hoped that maybe in time you’d see me as more than that. That you’d learn to love me.” Sadness flashed in his eyes.

The realization hit her like a hammer. For him, it wasn’t just a marriage of convenience. Despite his pragmatism and his rational approach to it, he was in love with her.

She trembled. “I don’t know. Given enough time maybe I would have.”

Joe sighed and got up from the chair to stroll over to the desk in his living room. “If the gifted laws didn’t exist and you were free to be with whoever you want, you’d still choose him, wouldn’t you?” He opened one of the drawers, as he spoke.

She wrapped her arms around herself. “Yes. I’m sorry. I wish I could tell you different, but—”

“It’s okay. You never pretended to love me. Even when I proposed, you told me you didn’t.” He closed the drawer and turned. “I wanted you to be safe.” He held the rolled up engagement contract out to her. “But if you love him, that’s no longer an issue. He’s gifted. You two can legally be together.”

With trembling fingers she took the roll of paper. Relief conflicted with worry for his welfare inside her. What would happen to him now? Would he have to face the breeding facility? Her throat constricted as her gaze met his.

“You never lied to me, Sam. If your heart belongs to him, you should be with him.”

She wrapped her arms around him and drew him close. Warmth flooded her. She probably would have fallen in love with him before long if she’d married him. If things had been different…

Her heart ached. “Thank you.”

He pressed her close and pecked a chaste kiss on her cheek. “I hope you’ll find all the happiness in the world.”

When he released her, an odd sadness spread inside her. “I’ll see you around?”

“Sure. We’ll meet at the office. Maybe have lunch in the cafeteria. As friends.” He took a step back.

“I’d like that.” She pressed the contract to her heart and turned.

When the apartment door clicked shut behind her, the sound had a finality to it that made her vision blur.

 

***

 

Sam pushed the little button next to the door and fidgeted while she waited for someone to open it. The door looked just like every other door on the floor—probably the entire building. Aschen conformity and order had expanded into the architectural design of their houses.

Voices and steps drifted from inside the apartment. When the door opened, she straightened. Daniel blinked at her without glasses. “Sam?”

“Daniel.” She gave him a weak smile. “Hi.”

“What are you doing here?” His breath hitched and the smell of alcohol carried over. Her gaze fell on the beer bottle in his hands. He was drunk, or at least on the way there. She’d been on too many team nights out with him not to know the signs.

“Dad said Jack’s staying with you until tomorrow, and I thought… Is he here?”

“Yeah.” His mouth tugged into a smile. “Thank God you’re here. He’s driving me crazy.”

“Oh.” She raised her eyebrows. Daniel stepped aside and let her in. “Vala’s not here?” She couldn’t imagine that Jack would be able to stomach Vala and Daniel on his first evening back. Especially not if there was alcohol involved.

“She’s visiting Janet.”

“Oh.” How had she gotten so out of touch? She had really withdrawn from her friends in the past few months. They’d only talked to each other every other week. 

After she’d pulled off her jacket, she followed Daniel to his living room. The apartment looked the same as her own. Another case where Aschen indifference had led to unbearable uniformity.

As she entered the room, Jack was just flicking the lid of a beer bottle into the garbage can in the corner. A few dozen missed ones lay scattered on the floor around it.

“Look who’s here.” Daniel took a sip from his bottle, then swayed and stumbled. Flinching, Sam guided him to the couch.

Face blank, Jack leaned back and studied Daniel, then her.

“Hi.” She gave him a soft smile. “I didn’t mean to intrude.”

“Pshaw. Carter, grab a beer.” He motioned towards a little box under the table.

Carter. So they were back to formalities, were they? “No. Thank you.” She looked around. The wall was stacked with boxes, undoubtedly holding some of the artifacts from Antarctica.

Jack took a swig from his bottle. “So, what brings you here at—” He checked his watch. “—11:26 at night?”

“I actually…” She glanced at Daniel. He looked up at her like an adorable puppy. A very drunk puppy. And from the amount of empty bottles on the table, Jack had also had a fair amount of alcohol. “Maybe I should come back another time.”

“Oh, just spill it.”

“I wanted to talk to you.” She wrapped her arms around herself, and swallowed hard. Maybe she should’ve waited a couple of days and not just come straight here from Joe’s place. 

“Talk away.”

“Privately.”

“ _Privately._ ” His expression remained blank, but there was a strange undertone to his voice she didn’t like. “Where’s Joe?”

Daniel groaned before she had the chance to think of an answer to address his hostility. “Jack, don’t be an ass. Just go talk to her already.”

She threw him a grateful glance. Daniel raised his brows expectantly at Jack, who motioned vaguely towards the wall.

“Fine. Why don’t we go into the other room. You gonna be okay, Dannyboy?”

The archeologist nodded, then winced when Jack hit his shoulder a bit too hard.

“Go easy on the beer.”

Jack put his bottle down on the sterile white side table, then walked past her. She followed him into what was apparently Daniel’s bedroom. An uncomfortable silence fell between them when the door clicked shut.

This had to be what a trapped deer felt like. She met his gaze. Why did he have to be so tall? He remained silent. When she couldn’t stand his scrutiny any longer, she strolled over to the window.

“It’s a nice place.” She closed her eyes with a wince. Why was she complimenting the apartment?

“Yeah. It’s Daniel’s.”

“Right.”

Another awkward silence.

“I’m sorry to disturb you at this hour.”

“Cut the crap, Carter, what’s this about?”

The anger layering through his words made her courage drop to a level below zero. She straightened and turned. What was she thinking coming here? After how willingly he had let her go, assuming she’d marry Joe…

Was he even still interested in a relationship with her? She’d left him behind on the Aschen homeworld. Maybe he was happy about the outcome. Maybe coming here had been a very, very bad idea. She turned toward him.

He scowled at her. “If you wanna say something, say it. Cause I got a date with that bottle of beer in the living room.”

Mild irritation welled up. So he wasn’t even giving her a chance to explain the situation? Couldn’t they talk about this like adults? What was going on with him?

“You’re a jerk.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Excuse me?”

“I told you I wanted to talk today, but you just left.”

“There’s nothing left to say.” He crossed the room and sat on the bed.

“There isn’t?”

He glared at her. “You made your choice. You moved on. Case closed.”

“They restored the old laws. Joe is gifted. I didn’t have a choice. I thought you were...” She closed her eyes.

“So I heard. Didn’t seem very hard for you to get over it, though.”

Her hands clenched into fists. “Do you even have any idea what I… I tried to establish a connection to the Aschen homeworld until the Tok’ra put an end to my efforts. _Everybody_ thought you were dead for four months. They practically had to drag me away from the gate.”

“Four months. Took you—what, half a year before you agreed to date me? Or whatever it was we did.”

_Whatever it was we did_? How could he talk like that? How could he even think…?

Jack pressed his palms to his eyes and fell back on the bed with a groan. “Listen, Carter, I’m not in the mood for this. You want my blessing? Go. Be happy. Marry him. It’s not the end of the world.”

The indifference in his voice shattered the last bit of confidence she had. Not the end of the world… Did she mean so little to him? She clutched her waist with her arms, trying to keep the pieces of her broken life together, trying to cut her losses. “You’re not being fair, you know.”

Jack sat back up. “Can we just end this conversation now without the anger and insults and ruining everyone’s day more than it is?”

Ruining his day… So that was what she was doing. The words resounded in her mind. He really didn’t want to be with her anymore. Because of Joe? Or because she’d left him behind to die?

“Yeah. Sure. I’m sorry I bothered you.” Throat tightening, she marched to the bedroom door.

“Good luck with your wedding.”

She froze, her hand on the doorknob. “There won’t be a wedding. I’m no longer engaged to Joe.” Without another glance back, she left the bedroom, then the apartment, slamming the door shut behind her.

How could this happen? Four months ago, they’d shared more than a tent. They’d shared a life. And now the emotional distance between them seemed to spread across the entire galaxy. Her chest hurt. Suddenly it was hard to breathe.

After losing him on the Aschen homeworld, having him back and seeing him despise her for what she’d done was more than she could bear.

If only she could go back to being the woman who’d found the courage and hope in her heart to run away from home. The woman who had been so full of dreams and willing to risk it all to fight for her convictions, against all odds. Somewhere along the way she’d lost her too.

 

***

 

_RING---RING---RING---_

Sam scurried out of the bedroom and nearly stumbled over her shoes in the hall. She took a quick glance in the bathroom mirror. Swollen eyes, puffy face. Great, not even make-up would cover that.

_RIIIIING---_

Running a hand through her tousled hair, she rushed to the front door and opened it.

“Why aren’t you engaged anymore?” Jack leaned against the doorframe. She blinked. Blinked some more. Then she glanced at the clock on the wall.

_6:30._

She rubbed her eyes. “What?”

“Yesterday at noon, you were engaged. Contract and all. Now you’re not.” He brushed by her and entered her apartment. She closed the door and followed him to the living room.

“These places really do all look alike, don’t they?” He glanced around until his gaze stopped on the unpacked boxes in the corner of her living room. “Comfortable.”

“I’ve been involved in work and haven’t really had time to…” Wait, that wasn’t really the point, was it? “Jack, what are you doing here? Are you still drunk?”

“Why did you end your engagement?”

“Why do you think?” She sighed and sank down to the couch.

“I asked first.”

She shook her head, her brain slowly waking up. “What do you want to hear? Last night, you didn’t even wanna see me, let alone talk to me.”

“I was an ass. Can we move on?”

She didn’t like the undertone in his voice. Impatient. Almost annoyed. Something was off about him.

“Why’d you break off the engagement?” When he sat down on the couch next to her, his leg brushed hers.

“Because…” She swallowed hard. It was all or nothing now. “You’re the man I love.” Her heart skipped a beat. They’d never used the word _love_ before, had they? She closed her eyes. “I didn’t love Joe. We only signed the contract so neither of us would have to deal with the breeding facility.”

His face remained blank. “So, what about the engagement contract?”

“He let me out of it and gave it back to me. Jack, you have to believe that I didn’t—“

He grabbed her nape and his mouth crashed down on hers. Heat jolted through her. Her lips parted, and as he deepened the kiss, she gripped at his arms, his shoulders, any part of him she could reach. God, how much she’d missed him. How many nights had she prayed for a chance to hold him again? She clutched his shirt to pull him closer.

“I love you,” she whispered between kisses before his tongue darted into her mouth again. Her mind swam with his taste, his scent, his rough repossession.

At last he lifted his head. Breathless, she bit her lower lip and met his heated gaze. Her hand cupped his cheek, her fingers tracing his lips, the soft wrinkles around his eyes, his rough skin. All those details she’d missed so much. All that made him who he was.

 “Would you mind if I bunked here?” He gave her lower lip a playful nip.

“No. Your stuff’s here already anyway.”

“Oh?” He glanced at the boxes in the corner.

“Well, somewhere in there.” She played with his shirt. Then her eyes caught a scar on his neck. That was definitely a new one. How many new scars did he have? What had the Aschen done to him all those months he’d been in one of their prisons?

She trailed her finger along the mark. Suddenly, he withdrew from her touch and straightened, his expression stoic. “I wanna sleep a coupla hours.”

She raised her brows at him. Didn’t he want her to touch him? A faint sense of distance reappeared, but she smiled. “Sure. I could use a few more hours.”

They could talk later after they’d both gotten some much needed rest.

When she snuggled into the blanket and Jack pulled her close against him, she didn’t care for talk anymore. His warmth, his scent. Everything of him. He was home. That was all that mattered for now.

 

***

 

A scream woke her. Sam jerked almost upright in her bed. She stared at Jack and leaned over to wake him when his eyes shot open. Chest heaving, he jerked into a sitting position. Drops of sweat covered his forehead. He looked around, disoriented and apparently unaware of where he was.

She scooted closer and drew him against her. He gripped at her arms, his body shaking.

“It’s okay. You’re safe.” She buried her face in his hair.

Abruptly, he pushed her arms away and slid out of bed. Without a word, he marched out of the room. She sat back on her heels and stared at the open door.

After a few minutes, he still hadn’t returned. Stomach tight, she got up and left the bedroom. In the bathroom, he leaned on the sink, his face dripping with water, his gaze fixated on his reflection in the mirror. Leaning her head against the doorframe, she wrapped her arms around herself. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.” He frowned at her. She ignored the hint of grouchiness in his voice.

She swallowed and reached out to touch his shoulder. “What happened to you on the Aschen homeworld?”

“Carter, what in my attitude says I wanna talk about that?” he snapped.

She pulled her hand back. He’d never talked to her in that tone—except those days when she’d messed up and gotten into a fistfight with Tim Hanson.

He closed his eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m fine.”

Except she was pretty sure he wasn’t.

And suddenly there was that galaxy’s distance between them again.

 

***

 

Theis was wrong. All wrong. He should feel better by now. He was back home. Back with Sam. He’d been so sure the nightmares would stop.

Instead they grew worse every day. Why were his muscles tense as though the Aschen were just around the next corner? Why couldn’t he shed that constant sense of danger?

Jack turned the beer cap on the kitchen table and took another sip. His sixth bottle today. Who cared? Maybe the nightmares would stop if he drank enough. He’d been trained for interrogation by the Aschen. Trained to withstand mind control methods. This shouldn’t be happening.

The front door snapped open and only a few seconds later, Sam entered the kitchen. She gave him a cautious smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

“I brought dinner.”

“Not hungry.”

Her arms sank. “Okay. I’ll just store it in the fridge and we can eat later.” She opened the fridge and put the food inside. Then her brows scrunched. “Jack…”

With a roll of his eyes, he got up. “Yeah, yeah, don’t even start. I drank all the beer.” He marched out of the kitchen and heard her footsteps behind him.

“Don’t you think you’re drinking a little too much?”

“Ya think?” He dropped on the couch. Why couldn’t she stop nagging? Couldn’t a grown man drink as much beer as he wanted?

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing.”

She bit her lower lip. “Jack, please. You’ve been acting odd ever since you got back, and—”

“Carter, just shut up and leave me alone!” He couldn’t take those damn questions. Not again.

She swallowed visibly, and her eyes glistened. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

“Then just don’t.” Guilt stabbed at him. She didn’t deserve this. Why was he snapping at her? She’d done nothing wrong. She was right, he _was_ drinking too much. He wouldn’t have to if it weren’t for those nightmares and the constant anxiety.

Why did his entire life feel as though it wasn’t even his anymore? He was a grown man, why couldn’t he handle this? He got up. Not even she could fill the void inside him.

As he left the room, he heard her breath hitch.

None of this should be happening. He was supposed to feel better once he got home. He should be rebuilding his life and celebrating.

Control was slipping away from him and all he could do was stand by and watch.

 

***

 

His scream cut right to the bone. Thank God she hadn’t been fully asleep. How could she? She knew what was coming. It repeated night after night.

“Jack.” She rolled over and touched his shoulder. “Jack, wake up.”

When he threw his head left and right, she sat up and scooted closer. Some nights it was easy to wake him. Others, it took a lot of effort. If only he’d see a doctor instead of drowning himself in beer.

“Jack.” She grabbed his shoulders and shook him gently.

Big mistake. His hand hit her hard across the face. The force of the blow sent her tumbling off the bed to the floor. She cried out in pain when her head hit the edge of the nightstand. His screams stopped.

Dizzy and disoriented, she groaned. Warmth trickled down the side of her mouth and she reached up to touch her finger to it. Red stained her skin. Oh God.

She looked up and found Jack staring at her wide-eyed. Her outcry must have snapped him out of the nightmare.

Without a word, she got up and stumbled into the bathroom. Her lower lip had cracked open. She reached for a tissue and examined the wound. Her cheek stung and a dull pain started pounding in her head. Throat tight, she concentrated on stopping the bleeding. Her reflection blurred and she rubbed her hand across her eyes.

“Sam…” Jack approached the bathroom.

Throat tight, she shook her head and shut the door in his face. It wasn’t his fault. It’d just been a nightmare. And yet…

If only he’d tell her what was going on. He’d never been like this. So unpredictable. She’d always felt safe being with him. But now…

Her breath hitched.

The water kept running as she sank down against the door. Shaking, she pressed the tissue against her mouth to stifle her sobs.

How much longer would she be able to take this?

 

***

 

Jack took a deep breath and pressed the doorbell. This had been a bad idea. But he was out of options. Something had to change. He’d come to terms with his own misery. But Sam…

Last night, he’d woken up from his nightmare and she’d lain there, next to the bed, her mouth bleeding and her cheek red and swollen. She hadn’t said anything. Not even this morning. But he’d seen the expression in her eyes in the bathroom. She hadn’t come back to bed after the incident. Who would?

He had to get it together. He couldn’t lose her. After all that had happened, after all the Aschen had done to him, he wouldn’t let them take her away from him, too.

The door opened. Eyes wide, Jennifer Keller stared at him. “Colonel.”

He should’ve known she’d be surprised. He’d barely talked to anybody since he’d returned almost two weeks ago. “Dr. Keller, do you have a minute?”

“Um… yes, sure.” She opened the door wider. “Rodney isn’t here if you’re looking for—”

“I wanna talk to _you_.”

“Oh.” She closed the door. “Would you like a coffee?

“No, thanks.” He entered the living room and buried his hands in his pockets. “I’m not even sure if you can help. Fraiser isn’t available at the moment, but she referred me to you.”

“Okay.” She sat down on an armchair. “So you need medical advice?”

“I need a doctor.” He sat down.

She swallowed visibly and shifted. “Colonel, I’m not really a doctor. They won’t even let me work. But I can give you the address of a good—“

“No.” Jack took a deep breath. “I’ve seen what you can do at camp. I want someone I trust.”

“What’s going on?” She stilled and leaned forward.

“I…” He took a deep breath. Where the hell was he supposed to start? How should he say this? “Since I’ve been back, things have been different. They were different ever since I escaped from the Aschen facility, but I thought everything would return to normal once I was back on Earth.”

“Such as?” she asked tentatively.

“Nightmares. For starters. Aggravation. I snap for no reason. I don’t feel any…” He cleared his throat. Awkward. “I’ve never had problems with, you know, reacting when I was with a woman.”

“Ah.” Her face remained blank. She was a doctor after all, and he probably wasn't the first patient to come to her because he couldn’t get it up.

“And last night, I accidentally…” He closed his eyes as guilt washed over him. “I need this to stop. Please. You have to do something. I know Fraiser always had pills she handed out at camp.”

“Have you felt like this before? At camp?” She got up and went to a cabinet in the corner where she searched through a few small boxes and bottles.

“No. I had an occasional nightmare after a stressful day. Or problems falling asleep after a bad mission. But it went away after a coupla days.”

“It’s getting worse?”

He sighed. “I think so. At least, it’s not getting better.”

She closed the cabinet, a package in her hand. “I can give you sleeping pills. But from the sounds of it, they won’t help much.”

“Can’t you give me something stronger? I just need a good night’s sleep.”

She shook her head. “I’m afraid that’s not how it works. Sometimes people who’ve been through a traumatic experience will relive what happened over and over again. I saw it a lot when I was still working as an apprentice and dealt with a lot of criminals.”

“I’ve never had these symptoms before.”

“You’ve never been in the hands of an enemy for over three months before.” She sat back down and her face grew thoughtful. “I have an idea, but you’ll have to trust me. And the Tok’ra.”

“The Tok’ra?” Jack folded his arms. Great, just what he needed.

“Martouf and I once talked about the Tok’ra blending process, and how they manage to avoid psychological trauma in the host after the blending. Most symbiotes possess centuries of memories, most of which aren’t pleasant, so it’s a very real danger. He told me about a procedure of memory suppression. They use a device that slowly activates the suppressed memories one by one, which gives the host’s brain time to process each memory before it’s faced with the next.”

“Keller.” Why the hell was she telling him this?

“We might be able to use their technology to do the same for you. We should be able to suppress the traumatic memories. It wouldn’t be a permanent solution, though.”

“Why not?”

She cocked her head and folded her arms. “Because suppressed memories can have all kinds of side-effects, such as psychological disorders, depression and undetermined anxiety. You’ll have to deal with them, slowly and one by one. The procedure should make the symptoms disappear, though.”

“Immediately?”

“If it works, yes. You wouldn’t remember most of the last four months. Then we’ll gradually activate one memory after the other during the next months.” She lifted her hands. “But first, I need to contact the Tok’ra and see if we could adapt the technology for someone who hasn’t blended with a symbiote. We have no idea what side effects it might have, so you may have to stay with them for a few days.”

“When can we start?”

“If I can get a hold of Martouf or Jolinar, and they agree, right away.”

Jack nodded. “Let’s do it.”

He couldn’t lose Carter. He couldn’t lose himself. Even if he had to rely on the Tok’ra once more, he would do whatever it took.


	48. Ice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> This version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).
> 
>  
> 
> Now you can also find an ebook version of this story on my website, including lots of bonus material as well as the first publication version of Stargate Aschen. (Click image to download.)  
> 
> 
>   
>  [](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-free-stargate-sg-1-ebook/)   
>    
> 

Sam looked at herself in the mirror and took a deep breath. Concealer covered the rings under her eyes and the remnants of the bruise on her cheek. Almost as though nothing had happened. If only…

Somehow her entire life was falling apart. Her fingers tightened on the sink. What was she doing wrong? The past two days Jack hadn’t come home. Even Daniel had no idea where he was.

She closed her eyes. When she’d told him she loved him he hadn’t even said it back. Did he want to end their relationship? Her stomach clenched. After all that had happened, she wouldn’t be able to handle that. She’d only just gotten him back.

Her gaze fell on the clock on the nightstand. The party would start at seven. She had no idea whether he’d show up, but Daniel and Vala had gathered everyone from the resistance currently in Powhatan. If he didn’t show…

Her throat tightened. Maybe he didn’t want to be found. If he didn’t want to open up to her, there was nothing she could do. She couldn’t blame him for not trusting her anymore. Who would after what she’d done, after how she’d failed him?

Heart heavy, she straightened out her black dress and practiced her smile in the mirror. It was six thirty. Time to go.

 

***

 

Hand at the door, Jack paused a moment. After what had happened two days ago, would Sam be here tonight? Would she be willing to talk to him? Would she give him another chance?

He took a deep breath before he entered the bar. Soft music played in the background. The scent of stale beer almost nauseated him. No beer for him tonight. He’d stick with sodas or water for a while.

Thanks to the Tok’ra procedure, most of the past four months was a blur. As though in a fog, there was something there, but he couldn’t grasp it. He often had to remind himself of how much time had passed since he and Carter had gone to the Aschen homeworld.

He looked around in the bar. Daniel and Vala argued at a table near the window, McKay hovered over a buffet in the corner, his arm around Keller’s waist, and Sheppard played cards with a few guys from former resistance Cell 1. When Keller spotted Jack, she withdrew from McKay and walked over.

“Colonel. How are you feeling?”

Feeling. Everybody kept asking him that these days. Maybe he’d have to get used to it. At least for a while. “Good.”

“Nausea? Disorientation?”

“None. Except for the occasional confusion when I realize how much time has passed.”

“That’s to be expected.” She gave him a smile. “Go easy on the alcohol. Doctor’s orders.”

“Won’t touch it.” He looked around. “Is Carter here yet?”

“I saw her over at the counter earlier.”

“I’ll see you around.”

“Colonel.”

Jack faltered and raised his brows.

“Your memories _will_ return, and you _will_ have to deal with them. If you don’t, it defeats the purpose of the treatment.”

“I know that.” He wished people would stop reminding him. Fine, so he had occasional problems relating his emotions to others. He just wasn’t willing to spill his guts out to everyone. He’d talk to Carter, and if she wasn’t willing to listen to him, he’d go talk to Daniel. Nobody else had to know what he’d been through. Not the details at least.

He looked at the counter, but Sam wasn’t there. He strolled around the barroom to the back, where he finally found her in a corner booth by herself. A bottle of beer rested on the table. She was peeling the label off the front.

Guilt stabbed at him. No smile. Not even that gleam in her eyes that always made his day better. “You know what they say about beer bottles and peeling off the label.”

Her head jerked up and she held his gaze. Still no smile. All right, attempt at humor failed. He sat down opposite her.

“I wasn’t sure if you’d show up tonight.” Caution flashed across her features.

Had he really gone so far over the edge that she felt she had to walk on eggshells around him? He had to make this right. Somehow.

“It’s a resistance gathering after all.” Silence. “Are you okay?”

“No.” She shook her head. “I don’t remember the last time I was.”

His stomach tightened. “Sam, what happened the other night… I can’t even remember, when I…what I… I didn’t mean to hurt you.” He scraped his hand through his hair. “You gotta believe me.”

She glanced down at her bottle. “It wasn’t your fault. You were asleep. You’ve been through a lot.”

Right. She had to say that. “So have you.”

She lifted her gaze to his. Another silence fell between them.

“I wish...” Her voice broke.

He gentled his tone and leaned forward. “What?”

“I wish we could go back to how it used to be.” The wet shimmer in her eyes almost broke his heart.

He grazed her hand with his fingers. “If you wanted to, we could try.”

“Do you want to try?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“I let you down. I didn’t have your back on the Aschen homeworld. And because of that…” She tensed and swallowed hard.

Was that why she’d put up with his mood swings for so long? Because she thought she deserved to be punished for leaving him behind?

“Carter. I ordered you to leave. If you’d stayed you’d be dead now. I’d still be alive.”

“I should have considered the possibility of a force field. If I’d known what we were up against, I might have been able to disarm it. Maybe someone more experienced—”

“Nobody knew. McKay and Felger didn’t think of it either. We relied on faulty intel. Nothing indicated there’d be a force field. You can’t predict everything.”

“Wasn’t that my job, though?”

Affection pulled at him. The need to draw her into his arms grew almost unbearable. Would she welcome his touch?

“Sometimes missions go wrong. I never blamed you. Not even for a second. I was an ass the past few weeks. That had nothing to do with you.”

“It didn’t?” She bit her lower lip and played with the half-loose label on her bottle. “What about Joe?”

He cleared his throat and straightened in his seat. Not a topic he wanted to discuss, especially with his most recent shortcomings where his man parts were concerned. “I understand why you agreed to marry him. I’ve been in a breeding facility. Any option is better than having to go through that. I don’t hold it against you.”

“Really?”

“Carter. From what I heard, you thought I was dead. It was just a marriage of convenience. It’s not like you two… you know.”

She closed her eyes and flinched. “We did.”

His stomach tightened. So she and Faxon had… “Oh.”

“Only once. I missed you so much and couldn’t stand being lonely anymore.”

“I see.” Maybe he should have gotten a beer after all.

“If I’d known…” She looked down at her bottle again.

“I know. Let’s just put it behind us.”

“If it helps, it wasn’t very… you know. And I had to concentrate not to think about you.”

“Helps a little.” Damn male pride.

She looked miserable, with her head lowered, her shoulders slumped, and her fingers tightening around the bottle. Sympathy pulled at him.

In many ways, her torture had been worse than his. He’d known she was alive. But she must have felt as though she’d lost everything. Would he have been able to make it through the torture if he’d thought she was dead?

He got up from his seat and slid onto the bench next to her. Who cared what she’d done in the past months? He was home, and on the way to getting back to his old self. Now all he wanted was to make things right with her. “C’mere.”

Her breath hitched as she wrapped her arms around him. He buried his face in her neck and inhaled the sweet, feminine scent he’d missed so much. 

He dropped a kiss to the side of her neck. “After what happened the other night, I thought you’d never wanna see me again.”

Her fingers played at his nape. “I was so worried about you. Why didn’t you come home the past few days?”

He took a deep breath and linked their fingers. Time for the truth. “I was with the Tok’ra at Antarctica.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Oh?”

“I went to see Keller on Wednesday. I should’ve consulted a doctor earlier, but I wanted to handle it myself and couldn’t accept that I needed help. But after what I did to you…” He tangled his hand in her hair. Even if she forgave him, he’d never forgive himself for hurting her. “I underwent a Tok’ra medical procedure.”

She leaned back to look into his eyes. “What kind of procedure?”

“They have a device that can control memories. They place it on your temple, or behind your ear. Keller thought it might work to treat post-traumatic stress. She consulted with Jolinar, and they said it’d be worth a try. But since they’ve never done it on a normal human, they wanted to keep an eye on me in case there’d be side effects.”

Concern flashed in her eyes. “Jack.”

“I couldn’t go on like that. Not having control over my life—or myself. Waking up and finding out that I hurt you.” He closed his eyes. “Can you ever forgive me?”

Her eyes welled as she shook her head. “There’s nothing to forgive.” She cupped his cheeks with her hands. “I just wish you’d talked to me.”

“It was so immense, I didn’t know where to start. Besides, after what happened, I wanna make you happy. You shouldn’t have to deal with—”

“Jack.” Her index finger on his mouth made him stop. “I don’t need you to make me happy. I just want to be with you. Through the good and the bad times. We’re a team, remember?”

A slow smile pulled at his lips. How did he end up with such an incredible woman? “Yes, we are.”

For the first time since he was back, the sun rose in her face. His stomach lurched.

“I love you,” he whispered into her ear.

She sobbed and grabbed him tighter.

His stomach tightened in momentary nervousness. “What?”

“Nothing. It’s just…” A tear rolled down her cheek. He brushed it away with his thumb. “For a while I thought... Never mind.”

He’d make sure she never doubted his affection again. He leaned in and grazed her mouth with his. She parted her lips for him. He teased her, keeping the caress almost chaste, until she pulled him closer, and he couldn’t resist darting his tongue into her mouth. Her taste mixed with the faint aroma of alcohol. She still used the lemon shampoo. Its fresh scent tingled his nose. God, how he’d missed her. When he drew back, her breath came shallow.

His body was reawakening. Thank God. After no reaction during the past two weeks, he’d wondered whether the Aschen had inflicted permanent physical damage on him.

Blissful relief flooded him, and he took her mouth in another heated kiss.

“So no more nightmares for now?” she asked breathlessly when they broke apart.

“No. At least not for a while.”

“You’re feeling better?”

“Better than ever.”

Eyes sparkling, she beamed at him. God, she was beautiful. How did he not notice that during the past two weeks? How hadn’t he noticed anything around him?

He grew serious. “My memories will return during the next months, and then I may have occasional nightmares. Keller said they shouldn’t be dangerous, though. Apparently it’s important that I talk about whatever I remember. A lot of what I’ll tell you then might be very upsetting.”

“We can handle that. Right?”

He tangled his hand in her hair and kissed her temple. Affection flooded him. “Right.”

“I’m so glad you’re home.”

“So am I.” He took her hand and dropped a kiss to her pulse point. “Will you be my date at the party tonight?”

She gave a little laugh. “Yes, I will.”

He got up and reached his hand out to her. With a smile, she took it.

 

***

 

The bar emptied out. Sam glanced at her watch and looked around the room. Daniel and Vala danced in one corner in front of the music box. Sheppard, Mitchell, and two other former resistance members played cards at one table. Other than that, the guests had left. 

“Finally alone.” Jack’s deep rasp right next to her ear sent pleasant shivers down her spine. She turned in his arms. He took her hand and stepped backwards.

She cocked her head. “What are you doing?”

“Following Dannyboy’s example.” He stopped and drew her close until his nose brushed hers. “I’ve wanted to take you out dancing for a while, remember?”

“Now? Here?” Her cheeks warmed. There wasn’t even a real dance floor.

“No time like the present.” He pulled her against the hard planes of his chest. Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around his neck. A smile played around his lips. “See? You know the basic position.”

She chortled and stepped closer until her breasts brushed against his chest. His warm hands ran down her sides. Faint, long-forgotten anticipation built inside her.

She bit her lower lip, fingers playing at the collar of his shirt. “You know, there are a few other basic positions I really have to brush up on.”

“Do tell.” Her surroundings spun when his mouth grazed her neck.

As he swayed them to the slow rhythm of the music, she leaned her head against his shoulder.

“I fantasized about this.” His warm breath fanned her neck. Goosebumps danced down her arms and back.

“Dancing with me?”

“Yeah. It kept me sane while I was with the Aschen.”

“What else did you fantasize about?”

“Oh, Carter, let’s not go there.”

“Why not? Nobody’s listening.” She gave him a cheeky smile.

“No, but I’m gonna need to borrow your jacket to avoid an embarrassing situation later on.”

Butterflies awakened in her stomach as she held his darkening gaze. She laid her head against his shoulder again, and closed her eyes. Her skin hummed with his closeness and every touch burned right through her clothes. Who would have thought that life could turn around so quickly? That he’d pick up the shards of her heart and put them back together with such ease.

Time stopped as they swayed through the song, then the one after that, and two more.

Finally, he trailed his mouth along her jaw to her ear, and whispered, “Want me to take you home?”

There was nothing she wanted more.

 

***

 

Lips locked, they stumbled into the apartment building and up the stairs. Sam wasn’t sure how they stayed on their feet, but then again, who cared. In the middle of the stairwell, she steadied herself against the wall and let her head fall back. His kisses seared a path along her jaw and down her neck. Her blood burned with need.

Moaning, she pulled him up the last few stairs and along the corridor towards their apartment. At the door, she fumbled with the keycard. She slipped it through the reader. Nothing happened. Jack nipped her earlobe and her legs almost buckled under her. Damn card reader. Whoever made these lock mechanisms sure hadn’t had simplicity in mind. She moved the card through the slot, slow and deliberate this time.

Mercifully, the little light lit up green and the lock snapped open. She nearly fell inside, Jack’s arms around her waist the only thing preventing her from falling.

He chuckled against her mouth, and giggling, she smacked his chest before her hands moved lower to fumble with his belt. Once they were inside, he gave the door a nudge and it fell shut.

When he pushed her up against the wall, the air left her lungs. “God, yes.” Fingers trembling, she cupped his cheeks.

His hands roamed along her waist, down over her hips. He inched his face closer and so did she, and their lips met again in a desperate rediscovery. She’d never let him go again. Ever. And if next time that meant sacrificing a mission, so be it.

She yelped when he shoved the dress up to her waist. Panting, she broke the kiss and leaned her head back against the door. “Bedroom?”

God, how she’d missed him. How she’d missed their closeness… And this. Arousal pooled between her legs. Her stomach tingled when he buried his face in her neck. 

“I wanna make love to you.” He nipped her earlobe.

Drunk with his closeness and scent, she nuzzled his temple. “I love you.”

Once they were in the bedroom, she took her time pulling his shirt over his head, opening his pants and pushing them down. After months of longing, this had to last. She wanted to give him all of herself tonight and show him in every kiss and every caress how much he meant to her.

After he’d pulled her dress over her head and the cool air hit her bare nipples, he took a step back and studied her. His hand trailed along her collarbone, down over her breasts. Her cheeks tingled and she bit her lower lip.

Four months were a long time, and after what had happened with Joe…

Her breath caught when he drew her closer and sank down on the bed. Fingers tangling in his hair, she leaned in and he pressed a hot kiss right over her belly button. “Jack…”

He looked up at her. His eyes pooled like the endless darkness of space in the dim moonlight leaking in through the curtains. He tightened his grip around her and pulled her down onto the bed.

She turned onto her back and wrapped her arms around him. He leaned over her and held her gaze. Her fingers trailed along his biceps, over his shoulder and down his back. His skin heated under her touch. So familiar, and yet her stomach fluttered as though every inch of his body were unknown.

Time slowed and then came to a complete standstill. His lips caressed and trailed, and then grew more impatient, more intent on igniting arousal. Eyes closed, she surrendered her body and mind to him.

Every fiber of her being hummed with his nearness, his caresses, his kisses. Such slow, deliberate touches. Who would have thought it could be like this? Not passion that washed her away like a blazing summer storm, but a calm, serene afternoon at a lake where she floated in a sea of pleasure and the intensity of it made her head spin. She fell into him, hands clasping his shoulders and arms.

When he finally took her with the same conscious sensibility reflected in every touch, her mind blanked and her entire universe shrank to the awareness of him.

If it could stay like this between them, she’d never ask for anything else again.

Much later, when they lay on their sides facing each other, Sam trailed her fingers over his damp skin. A slow smile played around his mouth.

She leaned in until her forehead touched his and trembled when his fingers grazed her breasts in a slow caress. Their breaths mingled. His chest hair tickled her skin with every move. Somehow, they’d reached a point of understanding that went beyond words.

Strange how things changed. Until four months ago, most of their relationship had been mostly about sexual desire and fulfillment. And now… Physical lust still persisted, but there was something else. Something deeper. Was it possible for distance and pain to strengthen the bond between two people?

She captured his lips, gentle and loving. A sigh escaped her when his warm palms ran across her back.

“What time is it?” She opened her eyes and met his gaze again.

“Not sure.” He brushed his nose against hers. “Don’t care, to be honest.”

She pulled him into another deep kiss. Then she pulled back and blinked at him, curious. “So, you remember nothing of the past four months?”

“I have a vague idea of what happened. Nothing specific. Except…” He swallowed visibly.

“What?” Her gaze trailed down his face, from his eyes with their soft wrinkles, to his nose, and then down to the hard line of his mouth.

“I kept having these dreams of you. Maybe they were hallucinations. They’re the only thing I remember in detail.”

Realization finally settled in her mind. He was back. He was with her, and everything would be okay. Her throat constricted and his face started swimming. “Jack.” Her breath hitched on a sob.

“Shhh.” He leaned in and kissed her cheek, her nose, her chin.

“Please tell me this isn’t just a dream.” She fisted her hand on his back and clutched at him. “I’m so scared I’ll wake up and you’ll be gone.”

“It isn’t a dream. I promise.” Didn’t people in dreams always say that?

Her body shook as she succumbed to the tears that spilled down her cheeks. _Please don’t let this be a dream. Please don’t let me wake up now._

His hot breath washed down her neck as he held her close, unmoving and without a word. Even as the first beams of sunlight leaked into the room, she didn’t let go of him.

She’d never leave him behind again.

 

***

 

Sam’s eyes fluttered open and she blinked against the bright light. Deep satisfaction made her stomach tingle. This was the second night Jack hadn’t woken up screaming. She shifted closer and nuzzled his shoulder.

Before they’d fallen asleep, he’d told her a little about what he remembered from his interrogations. What his cell had looked like, and how they’d moved him to a white room to question and torture him. After his escape from the Aschen prison, the details became clearer. He’d told her about the hospital, and how two Aschen doctors had treated his wound, believing he was an Aschen.

He hadn’t stayed longer than necessary. When he left the hospital, the Goa’uld still hadn’t stopped their attack. He’d remembered that the Tok’ra sometimes had undercover operatives on Goa’uld motherships, and so he’d waited for a new attack. One of the ring platforms had enabled him to get on the mothership, where he’d been captured by Ba’al.

Apparently, Ba’al had tortured him some more, because the details had grown woolly again at that point. He just remembered his new prison on the Goa’uld’s mothership. Luckily, he’d been correct about there being a Tok’ra operative on the ship.

How many lucky coincidences his escape had depended on… If the Tok’ra hadn’t given Ba’al the notice about the Aschen Stargate, and he hadn’t attacked, Jack might have died during the Aschen torture.

Her stomach clenched. She couldn’t think about the what-ifs. Now they had to focus on the future.

She closed her eyes again and buried her face in the blanket. Just a few more minutes of sleep.

Warm lips grazed her temple, then nibbled her earlobe. “I know you’re awake.”

“I’m not.” She yawned and stretched, then snuggled back against him. Blissful warmth. Mornings like this should never end. Her mind drifted off again.

“How about I make us coffee?” His breath seared her neck.

“Sounds great.” She was pretty sure she mumbled, but who cared. “What time is it?”

“Clock says seven thirty.”

She dropped a sleepy kiss on Jack’s shoulder, before she released him. The mattress shifted as he got up.

“You’re not gonna fall asleep again, are you?” His voice dripped amusement.

“Uh uh.” Probably not convincing. Especially not with her eyes closed.

The curtains opened and bright daylight stung her eyes. Groaning, she turned and buried her face under the pillow. “Jack.”

A moment of silence. Then, “Say, Carter?”

“Hmm?”

“Is there any chance we crossed into an alternate dimension at some point last night?”

Blinking, she lifted her head. “Alternate _universe_. No, I don’t think so. Why?”

“Explain this to me, will you?” He kept staring out the window at the sky, then down at the street.

Still sleepy, she sat up. She knew that look. Something was off. She wrapped the sheet around her naked body and crawled out of bed. God help her, if this was just a trick to lure her out of her warm, soft…

She froze, staring out the window. Thick snowflakes tumbled down from the sky, covering the street and buildings in a white blanket. Snow flowers had grown on the edges of the window, and a thin sheen of ice covered the glass from the outside.

Impossible. It never snowed in Powhatan. The climate was supposed to be mild. She held her breath, her stomach plummeting. Their harvest. Was this happening elsewhere on Earth? If the Aschen weather control systems failed…

Jack turned to her. “Any chance something’s wrong with the weather control units?”

“There has to be. Judging from the amount on the street, it must have snowed half the night.”

“Let’s get dressed and find out what’s going on.”

When he’d left the room, she opened the window. Crisp air and icy snowflakes hit her cheeks, shoulders and arms. She shivered. Like Antarctica during polar night.

So much for their lazy Sunday morning.

 

***

 

Jack nodded at two men passing them by in the hallway and opened the glass door for Carter. “Not sure if I’ll ever get used to the fake friendliness in these halls.”

She gave him a smile as she passed him. “Maybe that’s what these people need. Someone who doesn’t get used to it.”

He smirked and pulled the door to Robert Kinsey’s office open. He’d heard about the guy, but so far he’d only briefly met him. The older man definitely had some narcissistic tendencies.

Jack entered after Sam. A big oak desk stood in the middle of the room and expensive bookshelves lined the walls. What decadence. Especially considering the riots and destruction going on in some of the rural areas.

He raised his brows. McKay stood at the side of the desk. Apparently, he and Kinsey had been involved in some kind of debate. Jack knew the distressed expression on the scientist’s face too well. Not a good sign.

Seated behind the desk, Kinsey frowned at him. “Here in Powhatan it’s courtesy to knock before one enters a room.”

Was the guy kidding? “You gotta excuse my lack of manners. Down in Antarctica we were too busy handling situations to insist on formalities.”

“Rodney, what’s going on?” Sam asked, turning to McKay.

“We’re not sure yet. The weather control systems failed yesterday. Maybe some kind of security mechanism, or a failsafe. We’re thinking we missed some kind of periodic maintenance, so it’s shutting down. But we know too little about the system to—”

“Dr. McKay.” Kinsey’s voice carried a sharp undertone.

McKay swallowed visibly and straightened. “I told you before, she could—”

“That’s all. Keep me informed of your progress,” Kinsey said.

“With all due respect, I don’t think you understand the severity of—”

“I think I’ve made myself clear. If you can’t accomplish the task, I’m sure another scientist will gladly volunteer to take charge of the science team.” The older man lifted from his chair.

McKay glanced from him to Sam, then his shoulders slumped. He turned and marched from the room, grumbling something.

Jack brushed some snowflakes out of his hair. “I know he can be annoying sometimes, but you should listen to what he has to say.”

Kinsey scowled at him, then sat back down. Jack plopped down in the chair in front of the desk. He ignored the older man’s deathly glare. Who’d put him in charge anyway? As far as Carter’d told him, the majority of people opposed him as the leader of their new government. “What’s going on out there?”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, O’Neill, but you don’t have any business even being in this building.”

“Just tryin’ to stay in the loop. Why don’t you explain the situation to Carter? She’ll understand the technobabble better than I will anyway.”

“ _Miss_ Carter’s duties are in file administration.” Kinsey looked up. “Which begs the question, why isn’t she in her office right now?”

“Oh for cryin’ out loud, Kinsey.” Jack leaned forward. His patience with this guy ran thin. “Just tell us what’s going on, will ya? Maybe she can help.”

“She can’t.”

“Sounded like McKay’s out of options.”

“Dr. McKay is qualified to handle the situation. So are at least a dozen other scientists.”

“Are they?” Jack folded his arms. “Funny it’s still snowing outside.”

Kinsey slammed his hand down on the desk. “I don’t care for your sarcasm.”

“I don’t care for your attitude. What’s the harm in letting her work on it with McKay? I’m sure the files’ll still be there in a coupla days.”

Kinsey rose from his chair. “She isn’t even a scientist.”

Next to Jack, Carter took a sharp breath. Uh oh. He knew the expression on her face. As much as he’d enjoy letting her redecorate that idiot’s face, it’d hardly solve their problem.

“Carter.” He straightened in front of her, so she had to look at him instead of Kinsey. “Why don’t you go to your office, and I’ll meet you there in a few.”

Anger flashed in her eyes. “But—”

“That wasn’t a request.” Technically, he wasn’t her superior officer anymore. And yet…

“Yes, sir.” Jaw clenched, she turned and marched out of the office.

When she’d closed the door behind her, Jack turned and leaned forward, his hands on the desk. “Let me make something clear here, Kinsey. I don’t care who you are, or who you think you are. I won’t let you waste Carter’s potential on filing when we need her help elsewhere. She’s one of the smartest scientists we got.”

Kinsey lifted his chin. For a split second, Jack considered wiping that condescending smirk off his face. “I understand why you of all people would want to advance her career. Why don’t you leave the personnel choices up to me?”

“Oh, get off that high horse, Kinsey. Give her a chance. And what do you mean, me of all people? I worked with her for over a year.”

Kinsey gave a chuckle. “So I’ve heard.”

Anger flared up inside him. “If you’re insinuating what I think you are, you’re way outta line.”

“I’m insinuating you’re biased,” Kinsey said. “She’s never attended a university. Nor does she have a degree.”

“Last I checked, neither do McKay or Felger. Carter’s knowledge of the Aschen systems and her ability to figure out new technology are unparalled. Even McKay admitted he needs her help. That should tell you something. If I didn’t think she was up to the task, I wouldn’t suggest it.”

“She’s a woman.”

“Now who’s biased here?” Jack frowned at him. Smarmy, self-righteous bastard.

“I advise you to remember who you’re talking to.”

“Oh, I know exactly who I’m talking to.”

Kinsey’s jaw tightened. “What exactly is that supposed to mean?”

“It means that I’m not in the mood to stand here arguing semantics about what being a scientist means. Especially not with a collaborator who supported the Aschen regime.” If Kinsey thought he’d be intimidated by his pompous demeanor, he’d be in for a disappointment. “I’m putting Carter on McKay’s team.”

“The hell you are. You may have been some kind of leader at your little camp down in Antarctica, but you have no authority here. Up to now I’ve been patient with Miss Carter, and granted her a job in file administrations. But we can easily do without her.”

“What’s your problem, Kinsey? That she’s a woman? Or that she’s smarter than you?”

A knock at the door interrupted him. Kinsey took a deep breath, then straightened and fixed his tie. “Come in.”

“I’m sorry, Bob. Am I interrupting something?”

Jack turned. Faxon. Great. Just the person he needed.

Kinsey waved him in. “Not at all. I think we’re done here.”

“No, we aren’t,” Jack said.

Faxon raised his eyebrows and buried his hands in the pockets of his expensive looking suit as he walked in.

Jack turned to him. “Mr. Kinsey here apparently thinks Earth can afford not using the skills of an excellent scientist because her reproductive organs happen to be on the inside instead of the outside.”

Kinsey scowled. “I want professional scientists, people with experience on the job. Not some female hobby scientist.”

Faxon cleared his throat. “If this is about Sam Carter, she’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. Let’s not forget she’s the one who wrote the alien virus that disabled the Aschen Stargate.”

“Yeah. With the help of an alien called Ba’al,” Kinsey said, apparently unimpressed.

“That’s because nobody on Earth was qualified enough to help. Which kinda makes my point,” Jack said.

“As far as I’m concerned, carrying out a terrorist act hardly qualifies her to handle sensitive Aschen technology.”

Jack raised his eyebrows. Interesting. Maybe Carter being a woman wasn’t the only problem. “You got something to say, Kinsey? Say it.”

“Oh, I got something to say—“

“Gentlemen.” Next to Jack, Faxon cleared his throat. “Bob, we have a situation. If the weather control units aren’t fixed within the next twenty-four hours, we’ll lose a huge amount of our harvest and have a shortage on our hands. I see no harm in having another brain working on the problem.”

Now _that_ was unexpected. Jack glanced at the man next to him. And to think he’d been determined to dislike him.

Kinsey jumped up. “All right, let her help. But she’ll work on one of the teams and report to a senior scientist.”

“Thank you, Bob. I’ll reassign her immediately.” Faxon glanced at Jack. “Does that resolve the issue?”

“For now.” Jack gave Kinsey a dark stare, then turned.

“O’Neill.” Kinsey’s voice cut like a laser beam through steel. “You have friends on the POA, which is the only reason why neither you nor your little girlfriend have been transported to a breeding facility yet. But I’m warning you, I’m the one person you don’t want to cross. For her sake, and your own.”

Anger slammed into him like a hammer. Fists clenched he spun. “Kinsey, you—”

Faxon stepped in his way and put his hand on Jack’s shoulder. “Let’s go.” Jack glared at him, but Faxon’s face remained blank. “We have all we came for, don’t we?”  His gaze bore into Jack’s insistently.

Jack relaxed against his grip. The guy was right. Kinsey was just waiting for him to do something wrong. “Yeah.”

He turned and marched out the door to the corridor.

Outside Kinsey’s office, Faxon turned to him. “You know, next time don’t hold back.”

Sarcasm? Wasn’t that _his_ field of expertise? Jack glanced at him. “Diplomacy’s not one of my strong points. Thanks for the support though.”

“I didn’t do it for you. I did it for her.”

“Ah.” Jack pushed his hands into his pockets. An awkward silence fell between them.

“What are your plans now?” Faxon asked.

“Well, I was gonna go find Carter and tell her—“

“I meant in general.”

Jack shrugged. “Not sure yet. I was hoping they’d reopen the Stargate at some point.”

“We need a man like you on the POA,” Faxon said.

“After what just happened in there? Politics aren’t really my thing.”

Faxon chuckled. “You have the practical experience. And you’ve become the face of the resistance on Earth. Are you even aware that you’re considered a hero by many of the general population?”

Jack swallowed. “I just did my part. Carter and McKay deserve the credit. It was their idea. They made it work.”

“This is about a vision and giving people hope. If we want to reopen the Stargate, we need strong, charismatic people on our side who aren’t afraid to speak their minds. Think about it.”

“I will. Don’t get your hopes up though.”

 

***

 

Hands fisted at her sides, Sam paced back and forth across her office. She couldn’t believe it. Dismissed. Just like that. After the self-righteous, arrogant bastard had diminished her accomplishments, Jack had just dismissed her. Why had she even followed the order? They weren’t at Antarctica anymore. He wasn’t her superior. 

When the door of her office swooshed open, she turned her head. Jack strolled inside. 

“I can’t believe you did that. You made me look like a stupid little girl in front of him. You think you can just order me around like that?” She lifted her hands and shook her head. “You know, I’m not even mad at you. I’m mad at myself for following the order.”

“Yeah.” He smirked. “Surprising considering how insubordinate you used to be.”

“You think this is funny? Kinsey’s an idiot. He’s waiting for every chance to show me that in his eyes I’m less qualified than the dumbest male on Earth, and that it takes a man to tell me what to do. And then you play right into that.”

“You done?” He sat down in a chair. “If not, why don’t you pack up your stuff while you rant?”

She stared at him.

His eyes gleamed. “You’re on the science team. For now. Until the weather control system’s fixed. After that we’ll see what happens.”

Science team. He was putting her on the science team? “Jack, you can’t just—“

“I didn’t. Kinsey did.”

“Oh.”

“Next time, try not to look like you wanna smash your fist into Kinsey’s face. Not that I don’t support the notion, but you think beating the crap outta that guy would get you anywhere? That self-righteous son of a bitch is just waiting for you to cross some line, so that he can fire you.”

She swallowed. She _had_ wanted to smack the guy. Had it been that obvious? “You talked him into letting me work with McKay?”

“I didn’t. Actually I pretty much got to the point where I wanted to shoot him. Faxon was the one who convinced Kinsey.”

“Joe?” She stared at him.

“Yeah. Apparently, I gotta learn a thing or two about diplomacy.”

She bit her lower lip to stifle her smile.

“I may have called him arrogant. And a few other things.” He rolled the chair to her desk. “He offered me a job.”

“Kinsey?”

“Faxon. He wants me on the POA to make a case for the Stargate program.” He played with a pen from her desk.

“That’s great.”

“Is it?” He looked up.

“It isn’t?”

“I don’t know. You know me, Carter. I’m not exactly a patient guy. I’m used to a command structure. Giving orders. Not debating them.”

She sat down in her chair and took his hand. “I know I’m not entirely unbiased, but as a leader down in Antarctica, I always trusted you. Even when we had our rough patches, I never doubted you were professional and competent, and that I could put my life in your hands.”

“I don’t think those qualities count for much here.”

“But they do for the majority of people on Earth.” She sighed. “People are protesting the current regime everywhere. The majority of humans don’t want Kinsey and a government consisting of only gifted people.”

“I’m gifted.”

“But you’ve always fought for all people on Earth. If someone like you were in the government, maybe we could undermine Kinsey. Or maybe, we’d just be able to reopen the Stargate program. Either way, we’d win.”

He gave her a lopsided smirk. “You’d have to follow my orders again.”

“I can live with that.” She leaned in and nipped his lower tenderly.

Jack drew her closer and took her mouth, his tongue delving deep inside. Too soon, he broke the kiss. “Now, go help McKay.”

She struggled to regain her composure. “Yes, sir.”

Her heart raced. Science. Finally, she’d be working in the field she loved again. Even if it was just for a short time.

 

***

 

Sam handed a box over to Jack and then bent over another one standing against the wall in their living room. She moved some books out of the way. “You think Kinsey will change his mind about putting me on a science team now that the weather control is fixed?”

“Don’t think so. I think you’re not the problem. It’s what you’ve done.”

“Oh?” She glanced up at him. “What does that mean?”

“To him, we’re terrorists.”

“Well, at least that means he doesn’t think I’m unqualified, but that he’s scared of me.” She looked into the box again. Where had their chess set gone? She was sure she’d seen it somewhere. She shoved two more books out of the way. “Found it.” She held up the box with their game.

“You know, we should unpack all this stuff.” Jack waved around at the boxes.

“I didn’t know how long I’d be here, so I didn’t bother. I always wanted to go back to Antarctica. Come on.” She took his hand and pulled him into the kitchen.

“You miss it?” He sat down on the table and set up the board, while she took two glasses from the cupboard and filled them with soda.

Even though Jennifer had given Jack a green light to drink beer again now that he was out of the critical phase of his treatment, they always bought soda at the store. The first nightmares had yet to come back, and they’d agreed to be safe rather than sorry.

“Yeah.” She sat down opposite him. As always she had the black pieces. He insisted he didn’t need the advantage of the first move, but their game scores told a different story. Not that she’d ever point that out. “It’s become my home. I miss O’Malleys. And camp. Dad’s there most of the time. And there’s the aurora.”

“Polar night?” His eyes gleamed.

She laughed. “Yeah, even that.” She took a sip from her glass as Jack made the first move. She mirrored his pawn with one of hers. “At camp, you knew you could trust people. Here, you never know who to trust.”

“What if you had the chance to go back to Antarctica?” He moved another pawn.

She shrugged. “I’d do it if we went together.” She mirrored his move again and stifled a smile. He didn’t like when she used the mirroring approach. It was so much fun to challenge him.

“Since I took the job on the POA, we might be stuck here for a while,” Jack said, taking her pawn with a triumphant smile. Undoubtedly an attempt at undermining her strategy.

“You need someone to have your back.” She moved another pawn. “Besides, as long as we’re here, they’ll see that we’re together, which will hopefully prevent them from sending us any more orders to report to a breeding facility.”

“You know, Kinsey insinuated that we’d be safe from the breeding facility as long as I don’t cross him. I don’t like the implications of that.”

She glanced up. “He wasn’t serious. Was he?”

He held her gaze. His face remained blank, but the expression in his eyes worried her.

“Jack?”

“There’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you for a coupla days.”

“What?”

“Give me a minute.” He got up and left the room.

She got up and took grapes out of the fridge. Fresh fruit still felt like a luxury. One of the downsides of Antarctica had been that fruit and vegetables were strictly rationed.

When Jack returned, she raised her brows at him. He held her gaze with an odd expression on his face. Her stomach tingled at the intensity in his eyes. “What’s going on?”

He took her hand and brushed his thumb over her pulse point. “Please don’t think I’m just doing this because of what Kinsey said.”

“Doing what?”

“Here.” He placed something in her palm. She glanced down. A roll of paper with a silver ribbon tied around it.

An engagement contract.


	49. Always Forever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> This version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).
> 
>  
> 
> Now you can also find an ebook version of this story on my website, including lots of bonus material as well as the first publication version of Stargate Aschen. (Click image to download.)  
> 
> 
>   
>  [](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-free-stargate-sg-1-ebook/)   
>    
> 

Jack tensed as Sam grabbed the back of the kitchen chair and paled. He prepared himself for the vague chance she’d faint, ridiculous as the idea seemed. She wasn’t a woman to faint in a situation like this. At least she didn’t appear to be.

Wide-eyed, she stared at the engagement contract on her open palm. “Jack, what…what are you doing?”

His stomach tightened, but he still managed a smirk. “I think it’s customary you at least take it.” God, she wouldn’t decline, would she? Maybe it was too early. Maybe he should have talked to her first. Or at least done some recon. After all, she’d been opposed to a marriage with him before.

Her fingers trembled visibly and she bit her lower lip, still unmoving.

“Just think about it. No pressure, okay?”

She pulled the chair away from the table and sank down on it. Still no word, but now she looked seriously petrified. What the hell was going on?

She’d accepted Faxon’s proposal, so why couldn’t she accept his? Jealousy gnawed at him. Did she still have doubts after everything? “Look, Carter, it’s just an idea. We don’t have to marry or anything if you’d rather—” 

She looked up and met his gaze. “I want to.”

An entire mountain range lifted off his chest. Except she still didn’t look like a happy bride. Something flashed in her eyes. Fear? Nervousness? “You sure?”

“Yeah.”

“But?” He sat down on the chair opposite her.

“What if I…” She closed her eyes and her shoulders slumped. “I really love you, and I don’t want to ruin what we have now. I’m not sure I can be a good wife for you.”

“Why?”

“I want to work as a scientist and go through the Stargate if they reopen it.”

He scratched his fingers through his hair and studied her. What the hell did all that have to do with marrying him? “So?”

She swallowed hard. “It won’t leave much room for, you know, taking care of you and a family, and all the stuff that a wife is supposed to do.”

Did she really think he cared about that? “Is that why you were so opposed to our marriage?”

“Partly.” She shifted on the chair. “Back then I also wanted a say in my future, and I wanted to get to know you first.”

“Which apparently didn’t work out so well if you still think that’s what I expect of you.” He folded his arms and leaned back in the chair.

She mirrored his move. “Are you telling me you don’t care about all that?”

“Well, for starters, I can take care of myself pretty well.”

“What about kids?”

“What about ‘em?” He held her gaze, unmoving.

She lowered her eyes. “Do you want kids?”

“Yeah. Sure. Someday. Not now. Is that an issue? I mean, you’re still on the shots, right?”

“Yes, for now. But as soon as we have kids, I’d have to quit my work and—“

“Whoa… Who said that? Look, Carter, I’m asking you to marry me. Not to become my prisoner.” He leaned in and reached for her hand. “We have lots of time, and we’ll wait until we’re both ready.”

“We have two years.”

“Oh?”

She bit her lower lip. “Every gifted couple has two years to try and get pregnant, before they dissolve their marriage and pair them with different partners. Just as it was during the Aschen reign.”

Damn Kinsey is his stupid backwards ideas. “All right, so two years. Plenty of time.”

Brows scrunched, she held his gaze. “They’ll pass quickly. And what then?”

“Why don’t we cross that bridge when we get to it? A lot can happen in two years. Maybe Janet and Carson will find a cure for the infertility. Or the gifted laws won’t even be valid anymore. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.”

“We have to consider the possibility that things won’t change.”

She was right, maybe they should talk about the worst case scenario, even if only so he could put her mind at ease. “If the time comes and the laws are still valid, we’ll figure something out. Together.” He squeezed her hand and brushed his thumb over her pulse point.

Gentleness crossed her features. “Such as?”

“Such as an appropriate duty roster.”

“Duty roster?”

He shrugged. “Sure. Baby duty roster. I’ll take the baby while you’re doing your experiments, you’ll take the baby when I’m in meetings. Evenings and nights are shared duty. Something like that. I managed to handle a camp with over thirty people. I think we can handle a bunch of kids.”

“A bunch?” Her eyes grew wide.

He flinched. “Okay, that came out wrong. One…maybe two. And a third one if the first two don’t drive us nuts. We’ll make sure each one is out of the critical phase before we make any decisions about another one.”

“You don’t mind that I want to keep working?”

“You kidding me? You’d be miserable without your doohickeys. I never expected you to stop working while we were dating. Why would that change now?”

She fiddled with her hands. “Marriage is different from dating.”

“It is?”

“Isn’t it?”

“I don’t know. We’re living together. We’re handling our lives together. We both have our jobs, but we take time during the evenings to be together. All marriage would change is that we’d have a piece of paper with our signatures on it.” He drew her hand to his mouth. “You wouldn’t even notice a difference.”

Her voice gentled. “We’d be safe from Kinsey and the breeding facilities. Nobody could keep us apart.”

“There’s that.” His lips tugged into a slow smile. “Is that a yes?”

 “It’s customary that I take at least three days before giving the contract back.” Her eyes sparkled flirtatiously.

His stomach lurched. “Since when do you care for traditions?”

She practically glowed when she pressed the contract to her chest. “Just for that I’ll kick your ass at chess.”

“You’re hot when you get rough.” Grinning, he turned his attention back to the chessboard.

 

***

 

Later that night, Sam lay on her side in the darkness and stared at the wedding contract that rested on her bedside table.

She still couldn’t believe it. Marriage. Actual marriage. An agreement that would make their relationship official once and for all—with her signature on the contract. Her stomach tightened with nervous anticipation.

He’d proposed to her like a non-gifted man would, and by that he’d made it so much more than just a contract. It would be an emotional promise, a commitment to spend their lives together, help each other, face the good and the bad times together no matter what.

All her life she’d dreamed about someday finding the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. Being gifted, she had parted with that dream a few months ago and accepted that all she could hope for was a husband she didn’t despise. Jack’s return had changed everything. Suddenly all her dreams seemed to be attainable again.

She wanted him. More than she’d ever wanted anything in her entire life. Maybe even more than she wanted to go through the Stargate.

A cool breeze from the open window grazed her bare skin, and she turned on her back and pulled the sheet higher around her body. Jack lay next to her, his arm under his head and his eyes closed while his breaths came deep and regular. Deep warmth surged through her. She slid closer and tangled her hand through his short hair in a tender caress. When she leaned in and dropped a kiss on kiss cheek, he mumbled something unintelligible.

Smiling, she snuggled up to his warm body and closed her eyes. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. Yes, she was going to marry him.

 

***

 

“…so, according to the latest reports that came in yesterday, our harvest has remained relatively steady with only a two percent deviation on production efficiency of type three harvesters. We assume that there’s a direct link between…”

Jack stifled a yawn. It was in moments like these that he wondered why the hell he’d ever agreed to take the seat on the POA. He glanced a Faxon who sat next to him. Unbelievable. The guy even took notes, while he himself didn’t even have a clue how all this boloney was relevant to their current issues.

He glanced at his own notebook. A few doodles marked the side—circles and cubes, some smiley faces. Maybe he didn’t have the right mindset for these POA meetings.

He covered the paper with his hands and shifted. The seat gave an audible creak that echoed almost surreal through the large room while the speaker sorted out his notes.

“…So if we keep up harvester production, we’ll, um, we’ll reach our goal, um…”

_If that guy says ‘um’ one more time I’m gonna shoot him._ The first thing he’d trained every recruit to do was to give clear and brief reports using only facts of relevance. Too many _ums_ reflected an inherent ignorance of the subject matter. So did having to read everything from a sheet of paper. Who the hell had put that guy in charge of farming economy anyway? He sounded as though he didn’t even understand what he was talking about.

Jack glanced at his watch. Only one minute had passed since he’d last checked it. How was anyone supposed to understand the point of this two-hour presentation?

“…But what the number, um, what the numbers don’t say…”

Okay, that was it. Jack cleared his throat and got up from his seat. “Excuse me?”

The faces of the forty-nine POA members turned to him. Some looked as though his voice had woken them from a nap. Not surprising.

“What the hell are we doing here?”

A mumble went through the room.

“I mean, seriously, who cares for this… this… whatever this guy’s been talking about for the past seventy-five minutes?”

“O’Neill,” Faxon whispered next to him. Jack ignored him.

“Why don’t we put things in perspective for a moment? The threats we’re facing aren’t in the malfunctioning of a harvester, or in crop overproduction. The real threat is up there.” He pointed at the ceiling. “If we wanna keep Earth as our planet in the long run, we gotta stop this whole…” He waved his hand around. “Whatever we’ve been doing the whole day, and the past three days.”

“O’Neill.” Faxon cleared his throat and shifted in his seat.

Jack turned to him. “Is that all you’ve been doing the past four months? If so, we should talk about the real problems. I know a lot of you have never left Powhatan, especially not recently, so let me give you a brief overview. We got riots in the East, and rising crime rates in almost every rural region on Earth. And how long do we want to beat around the bush when it comes to the Tok’ra issue?”

He looked around. The silence grew so overbearing, he was sure he’d hear a pin drop. “I know many of you like to pretend Earth doesn’t have an active Stargate. And that there are no aliens left. But the Tok’ra are operating the Antarctica Stargate on a daily basis, so why don’t we talk about that for a few minutes?”

Faxon sank back in his chair with a groan. Jack raised his brows at him. What the hell was his problem?

“Do you people think ignoring our problems is gonna make them go away? The Aschen or Goa’uld are certainly not going to disappear just because we pretend not to notice what’s going on in the galaxy. We should be building a viable defense. But instead, we’re sitting here discussing possible scenarios for the next two harvest periods. Am I the only one who has a problem with that?”

Waiting, he looked around. A mumbling rippled through the crowd. 

“We got a problem, kids, and it’s not corn overproduction or understaffing of the harvesters. It’s the Aschen, and the Goa’uld, and the fact that Earth doesn’t have an army. What do you think’ll happen once the Aschen decide to send one of their ships here? You think they’re gonna ask nicely if we’d allow them to come back?”

The mumbling grew louder. Satisfaction coursed through him. Finally people started discussing the issues that mattered.

At the other end of the room, a man rose from his chair. Kinsey. “And of course you know what we should do.”

Jack narrowed his eyes at the older guy. “I’m not saying I got answers, which is why we have to talk about the issues. If you ask me, a human-operated Stargate program would be a start, combined with a recruitment program for a human defense army. We should systematically school humans in the use of Aschen technology. And I mean gifted and non-gifted humans alike. Powhatan has become an island of the gifted. We gotta start including the rest of the population. There are way too few gifted people on Earth to take care of everything. We can’t risk establishing a two-class society and fighting each other.”

Kinsey leaned forward on his table. “We will deal with one issue at a time. In the future I advise you to abide by the rules. You interrupted an important presentation.”

“Oh for cryin’ out loud. Half the room’s sleeping. And the other half is so deluded they’ve completely lost any sense of reality. Do you think Earth would stand a chance against a Goa’uld mothership? Or the Aschen? Hell, even the Tok’ra could overpower us with their technology if they wanted to.”

Kinsey narrowed his eyes. “We’re discussing a general ban on aliens. An idea you oppose if I remember correctly.”

“Cutting all ties with alien races is the worst possible method to deal with the situation. The Tok’ra aren’t interested in Earth. They aren’t a threat to us.”

“Anybody who’s more advanced is a threat.”

“Now that’s just the kind of bullshit that—”

“That’s enough. One more word and you will be suspended from POA meetings for a week.” Kinsey’s voice echoed through the high walls.

Jack scowled at him, then at Faxon. Not a word. Not even so much as a supporting nod. Why the hell was he the only one willing to confront Kinsey?

“You know what?” He grabbed his memo pad from the table and straightened. “Don’t bother with the suspension. As long as we don’t address the issues that matter, these meetings are a waste of time.”

He turned and marched out of the room. When the door slammed shut behind him, satisfaction spread through him. For the first time in a week, he’d done something useful.

 

***

 

Sam inhaled deeply as she and Jack walked along the narrow path winding between the fields. Nothing compared to the scent of fresh grass and warm summer wind. How much she had missed this…

She shielded her eyes with her hand. In the distance, the house she’d grown up in stood tall like a rock between the fields, just as it had always done. Her father had reinforced his claim on it after the Aschen had taken it away from their family. Today they’d inspect how much of their stuff was still left in the house.

The revolution had happened only a few months after her father’s arrest, and their house hadn’t come with any farmland. That made it a low priority property, which hopefully meant most of their belongings were still there.

“Carter, you coming?” A few meters ahead, Jack turned to her.

She beamed at him. “Isn’t this great?”

“What?”

“This. All of this?” She ran her fingers over the tips of the wheat crops. “Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?” He pushed his hands in his pockets and looked around.

“Exactly. It’s so quiet. No Aschen harvesters. No hovercrafts. Earth belongs to us.” When she reached him, she brushed her hand along his arm, then leaned in and pulled him into a deep kiss.

He smirked against her mouth. “At least this time I’ll actually get to see your house without justice agents chasing us through these fields.” He linked their fingers. “Did your dad say how long he’d stay on Earth this time?”

“He said a few days. The Tok’ra sure keep him busy.”

He leaned down and picked one of the red corn roses growing at the side of the path that wound its way through the fields. She raised her brows when he turned and handed it to her. The red petals felt soft to her touch.

“You know, I recently came across an Aschen science article in the database that says flowers actually scream for help when they’re picked. They release a chemical which we can often smell. The most common one is the scent of fresh cut grass.”

Face blank, he studied her for a few moments without even so much as blinking. “Romantic.”

Ugh. What the hell was wrong with her? She closed her eyes and flinched. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I said that. It was just something I read.” Dying plants? Really? “Just… never mind.”

Smirking, he slipped his arm around her waist as they walked through the fields. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing.”

“Carter.” He drawled her name. “You’ve been odd all day. Not that I don’t enjoy your awkward babbling, but it’s a dead giveaway that something’s on your mind.”

She rolled the flower stem between her fingers. Then finally, she stopped and reached into her bag. “I wanted…” She swallowed hard.

Jack stopped and turned, brows raised. “What?”

“I wanted to give this back to you.” She pulled the engagement contract out of her bag and held it out to him. “It’s been three days.”

His gaze fell to her hand, then he stepped closer. She watched him with ever-growing nervousness as he took the rolled up piece of paper with the golden ribbon from her. He wouldn’t have to open it. Changing the color of the band around it was enough to show him that she had opened the contract to sign it.

“You sure?” His voice sounded throaty.

“Yeah. Aren’t you?”

“I was the moment I gave it to you.”

“I was the moment I signed it.” Her smile shook.

“So… we’re getting married?”

Her stomach fluttered with sudden euphoria. Hearing him say it out loud was even better than just thinking about it. She bit her lower lip on a smile. “Yes, we are. We’re getting married.”

Her breath hitched when he grabbed her around the waist and spun her around. Laughing she wrapped her arms around his neck. Oh God, she had really agreed. She cupped his face with her hands and brought her mouth to his. He tasted like warm summer air and him.

When they broke apart, he pulled her against the hard planes of his chest. “I promise you won’t regret it,” he whispered in her ear.

She buried her face in his neck. “We’ll make it work together.”

 “So, time to set a date.” He brushed his thumb over her lower lip.

“That’s traditionally set by the groom, so whenever you’re ready.”

“Carter, your sudden insistence on tradition scares me.”

She put her hands on his shoulders to keep him at a distance. “You make it sound like I am some kind of rebel.”

“You are. The sexiest one I know.” Hand at her nape, he took her lips in another dizzying kiss, his tongue delving deep inside. She grasped his shoulders and sighed as heat stabbed at her core. God, she’d never get enough of him.

He broke the kiss and leaned his forehead against hers. “A week from now. That enough time for you?”

“Yeah.” She nodded, breathless. “More than enough.”

“Sure?”

“I asked Vala and Janet to help me, and they said they’d be fine with whatever we choose.”

“How about a dress?” he asked, brows raised.

“I’ll find one.”

“The venue?”

“Traditionally, it’s the bride’s home. I’m sure dad would be thrilled if we used our house.”

“That’ll work. The food?”

She cupped his face with her hands and inched closer. “We can make a little buffet. Nothing fancy.”

“No cake?” Disbelief and a hint of outrage layered his voice.

A laugh escaped her. “Okay, cake and a buffet.”

“So, one week from now.” He nipped her lower lip.

One week… Her heart pounded in her ears. All these months she’d been so reluctant to give in to their old marriage contract. But now…

She straightened when a thought occurred to her. “Oh my God, that means our seven days of abstinence start today.”

He withdrew his hands, and she stepped away from him. “You think we can argue that we spent enough time apart already?”

Sam shook her head. “When my brothers got married, dad made sure they followed the tradition.”

“Well, the earlier we start, the sooner it’ll be over. I’ll move in with Daniel for a week.”

“No, you stay at our apartment. I can move into our old house.”

“Carter. It’s gonna take half an hour each day to drive into the city to the ministry. You stay at our apartment. I’ll bunk down with Daniel. He’ll be thrilled, you’ll see. Besides, I don’t think I’m gonna attend any POA meetings in the future.” His flinching made her laugh.

“I heard you were yelling at them and telling them all they’re idiots.”

He raised his eyebrows. “That’s an overstatement. I wasn’t yelling. And I didn’t say the word idiot.”

“Faxon told Sheppard you got on a real rant.”

“Carter, you should have listened to the speaker.” He scratched his hand through his hair. “These people don’t wanna see the truth. They want someone to sugarcoat things for them. I’m not the right guy for that.”

“You don’t say.” Her attempt at staying serious failed miserably.

His eyes twinkled. “Last I checked, sarcasm’s a form of disrespect.”

“So punish me, _sir_.” She took a step toward him and grazed her lips against his.

He opened his mouth, toying with her for a moment. “You think, since we haven’t told anybody yet, we can be lenient on the whole abstinence deal?”

She closed the distance between their lips and moaned when his tongue stroked against hers. How could kissing someone be this addictive? When they broke apart, her breath came shallow. “Maybe.”

“If we didn’t have a date with your dad, I’d rip your clothes off right here.”

“Jack.” She smacked his chest. “Out here in the open?”

“We’re in the middle of nowhere. There’s no one around.”

“Don’t you dare.” She took his hands and pulled him with her. “Come on, let’s tell my dad. Hopefully he’ll be here in a week. If he won’t we might have to postpone a bit.”

“Would that mean we’d have to postpone the abstinence too?” His eyes gleamed.

“Yeah.”

“Now I almost hope he’ll have to leave.” Before she had a chance to protest, he took her mouth with his again, and all her thoughts vanished in a sweet oblivion.

 

***

 

Sam moved her fork through a few carrots on her plate and glanced around. At noon, the cafeteria was so stuffed that they had to bring out extra tables and chairs, and turn one of the adjoining briefing rooms into a second commissary. The number of employees working in the Ministry seemed to increase daily. And all of them were gifted people.

“So why aren’t you allowed to talk to each other again?” Vala asked, before she stuffed a piece of steak into her mouth. Sam turned her attention back to her table where Daniel, Vala, Rodney, and Jennifer had gathered to have lunch.

Next to Sam, Jennifer inspected a piece of salad on her fork. “It’s a tradition for non-gifted marriages. They only marry for love, so right before the wedding they’re not allowed to have any contact with each other for seven days. If they still want to get married on day seven, their affection wasn’t just physical lust and both parents will give their blessing.”

“If it’s only done among non-gifted people, why do you have to do it?” Vala looked from Jennifer back to Sam.

Sam sighed. “Because we’re marrying for love, we want to do it.”

Vala nodded and waved around with her fork. “I see. You think O’Neill might be in just for the... you know.” She waved lower.

Daniel grabbed the fork out of her hand. “Nobody thinks anything. It’s just a tradition that’s been around since the Middle Ages. It’s part of our cultural identity. People follow it.”

“So, if we ever got married, you would insist on not having sex with me for seven days before the wedding?” She stole her fork back. “Am I at least allowed to sleep with someone else in that time?”

“If you keep talking like that, you won’t ever have to worry about that,” Daniel said, his face darkening.

Sam pressed her lips together to stifle a giggle. “Vala, does sexual fidelity mean anything on your—“

The doors of the cafeteria opened with a loud crash that made the glass panes rattle in their frames. Four men entered, all dressed in justice agency uniforms. They looked around, then headed towards their table.

“Jennifer Keller?” the man leading the group said.

Jennifer straightened on her chair and stared up at them. “Y-yes?”

“You’re under arrest.”

McKay jumped up. “Wait a minute, what’s going on?”

“Miss Keller received numerous orders to report to the Powhatan breeding facility. She ignored all of them.”

Ice poured into Sam’s veins. Jennifer was gifted and she was in a relationship with a non-gifted male which was a violation of the re-instated gifted laws. But up to now there hadn’t been any arrests. She rose from her chair. “You can’t be serious. You can’t arrest her for that.”

“We can according to the new laws. Any gifted person who refuses to report to the breeding facility will be forcefully transported there to be paired up with a compatible mate.” The justice agent gave Sam a cold frown.

Her pulse raced. If she hadn’t known that these people weren’t Aschen... The same cold attitude, the same uniform, the same distant frown. But those were humans! What the hell was happening on Earth?

Rodney stepped in front of Jennifer. “You can’t just treat her like a criminal. She hasn’t done anything wrong.”

The agent looked him up and down. “Rodney McKay, right? You’re not gifted. Your relationship with Miss Keller isn’t valid. Please step aside.”

Even Vala and Daniel got up from their chairs now. Vala folded her arms. “Oh come on, that’s ridiculous.”

Sam glared at the highest ranking agent. “You will not just take her away like that.”

“We have our orders.” He snapped his fingers. Two agents stepped forward and shoved Rodney aside, then grabbed Jennifer’s arms and dragged her with them.

“No.” Jennifer squirmed in their grip, her eyes wide with panic flashing in them. “Let me go. I promise, I’ll report to the breeding facility, but let me go there myself. Please.”

The agents were halfway at the door before Sam finally snapped out of her paralysis.

“Wait.” She ran after them. Outside on the hallway, one of the agents stopped and turned to her. She put her hands on her hips. “She doesn’t want to go with you. You have no right to—”

“We have every right. Miss Keller failed to comply with the laws. We have orders to make an example of her.”

When he walked away and left her standing, she fisted her hands. This would not happen. She wouldn’t let anybody deport her friends just because of some backwards laws.

“Sam.” Daniel stepped up behind her and grabbed her arm, but she twisted free and marched after them.

 

***

 

“Faxon, I gotta say, I’m not sure how you did it, but that was a great job.” Strolling along the corridor, Jack gave Faxon’s shoulder a friendly slap.

Faxon chuckled. “I had to do some convincing, but all I needed was a majority. I knew which members I could convince, and which ones are a hopeless case. You would be much more successful if you learned the art of communication.”

“Beating around the bush to avoid offending people isn’t my style. No offense.”

“None taken.” Faxon ran his hand through his hair with a sigh. “I think we need people like you on the front line. It’s not the right way of handling the POA, but it’s exactly the kind of attitude we need to get the job done. Which is why I put your name down for the position.”

Jack stopped. “You want me to…”

“…become Head of Stargate Operations at Antarctica, yes.” Faxon turned. “You’re the most qualified person on Earth for the job. You did it for almost ten years.”

“No, I led a resistance camp for ten years. I didn’t have to answer to a politician for every decision I made.”

“You got things done and you took responsibility.”

“For thirty people. Not three-hundred.” Jack scraped his hand through his hair with a groan.

“I’m not saying it’s an easy job. Nothing is ever easy anymore.” Faxon held his gaze. “But there is no one more qualified than you. You can choose your own staff and take as many people as you need. The POA even agreed to give you a budget for log cabins. Say the word, and we’ll start building tomorrow.”

Jack pierced him with his gaze. “I want Caldwell and Sheppard in leading positions.”

“You can have them.”

“I want Fraiser and Keller as medical officers.”

“The POA wants Fraiser to continue research on a cure for the infertility with Beckett. Keller shouldn’t be a problem, though.”

“And I want Carter and McKay in charge of the science department,” Jack said.

Faxon shifted his foot. “You can have McKay. And Felger, Lee and a few of the other scientists working the Aschen systems at the moment.”

 “What about Carter?”

Faxon sighed. “You’ve made an enemy of Kinsey. He made it very clear that he doesn’t want Sam working anywhere near Aschen technology.”

Jack narrowed his eyes. Rage coiled in his belly. “Kinsey just wants to be an ass because he doesn’t like me, and he takes it out on her.”

Faxon nodded. “I’m with you on that. Unfortunately confronting him about it won’t change his opinion. We’ll give it a few weeks, then I’ll address the issue again with the POA. What’s wrong with Felger or Lee?”

Jack frowned at him. “Felger’s a nit who needs constant supervision. And Lee isn’t an equal for McKay. I value them as scientists, but not as heads of the science department. Carter and McKay balance each other out. McKay has a tendency to let his arrogance cloud his judgment, and Carter keeps him in line. In turn she profits from his knowledge, and that makes up for her missing university degree.”

Hesitation flashing on his face, Faxon scratched his hand through his hair. Then he nodded. “Fine, we’ll figure something out. But you have to give me time.”

“I’ll make a complete list of personnel and equipment. You’ll have it on your desk tomorrow.”

When he approached the cafeteria, loud voices drifted from inside. Jack glanced at Faxon next to him and saw alarm flashing in his eyes. They quickened their steps and pushed the doors open.

Vala, McKay and Daniel were in a yelling match with a justice agent. A huge jumble of words, which, given the volume, made his head ache.

“Hey,” he said, pressing his fingers against his temples. Heads turned to him.

Daniel released a breath. “Jack, thank God you’re here.”

They all rushed towards him and then the word storm continued.

“Hey,” he repeated louder. “One at a time. Daniel, what’s going on here? And where’s Carter?”

More yelling.

He lifted his hand and scowled at them. “I said _Daniel_.”

“Jack, they took Jennifer away. Sam tried to help her, and they started fighting, and now they arrested her, too.”

Every muscle in his body tensed. “They _what_?” He spun to the justice agent. “What the hell’s going on?”

The man swallowed visibly. “Sir, we had orders to deport Miss Keller to a breeding facility. Miss Carter attacked three of our agents.”

Jack released a low groan and scraped his hand through his hair. “Of course she did. Where did you take her?”

“We’re keeping her locked up in a cell for now.”

Faxon cleared his throat. “Surely the incident couldn’t have been that severe.”

Jack flinched. Knowing Carter…

“One of our agents has a broken nose, and another one has bruised rips and a concussion.”

Damn, when Carter lost it, she didn’t go halfway.

“We’re talking about one woman against three trained agents.” Disbelief flashed across Faxon’s face.

Jack put his hand on his shoulder. “We’re talking about Carter here.” He looked at the agent. “I want you to release her.”

“But, sir…”

“No buts. As for Keller, she’s a doctor, and the POA needs her services. You’ll transport her back here,” Jack said.

“I’m sorry, sir, but our orders came directly from Minister Kinsey, and he was very specific about Miss Keller.”

“Kinsey?” Jack raised his eyebrows at Faxon. “Since when does Kinsey issue orders to transport people to breeding facilities?”

Faxon shook his head. “This is a first. Why don’t we talk to him and find out what’s going on?”

“About Miss Carter…” The agent shifted his feet, clearly nervous. “I’m gonna need a written order signed by two POA members.”

Jack stared at him. “Oh for crying out loud, both Mr. Faxon and I are members of the POA. That enough for you?”

“I’m afraid not, sir. The new regulations state that every order must be issued in written form.”

“All right.” He glanced at the agent’s name tag. “Winston, listen to me. I’ll hold you personally responsible for the safety of both Carter and Keller. Nobody touches them. Nobody’ll do any medical tests, or let anybody near them. If anything happens to either of them, I will shoot you. Clear?”

“Y-y-yes, sir.”

“Daniel?” Jack turned to the archeologist.

“Jack.”

“Go with him. As soon as I’ve talked to Kinsey, I’ll join you.”

Daniel nodded. “Will do.”

“Faxon, can you take care of the written order? If we both sign it, we’ll have the two POA signatures we need.”

“Of course. I’ll have my assistant type it up. We’ll have it in five minutes.”

“I’m gonna have a little chat with Kinsey.” Jack clenched his fists as he marched out the cafeteria.

Kinsey, that smarmy bastard. He knew exactly what Jennifer’s relationship with the resistance had been. Was that why he’d arranged for her arrest? Was this another one of his attempts to take revenge on former resistance members?

When McKay caught up with him, Jack glanced at him. “McKay, let me handle this. You go with Daniel.”

“No way, colonel. She’s my girlfriend.”

Jack pushed open the glass door that led to the stairs. If it had been Sam instead of Jennifer, there’d been no way he would have let anybody else handle the matter. “Then wait here. Last thing I need is another scientist go ballistic.”

Two minutes later he and Faxon entered Robert Kinsey’s office. Jack didn’t even bother knocking. He pushed the door open so hard the handle slammed into the wall.

“Kinsey, what on Earth is the matter with you?”

Face dark, Kinsey rose from his chair. “O’Neill. There better be a good explanation for you storming in here like a savage.”

“Oh I’ll give you an explanation. I’m gonna shoot your slimy little ass, how’s that for an explanation?”

“Have you lost your mind?”

“I’m not the one issuing orders for people to be transported to the breeding facility.” Jack slammed his palms down on the desk.

“You know the law,” Kinsey snapped.

Behind him, Faxon closed the door. “We’ve never enacted it to the point of deporting people. So what’s going on, Bob?”

“Despite numerous warnings, Miss Keller refused to break off her relationship with this… this… non-gifted man.” Kinsey gave them a disgusted look. “If we tolerate such demeanor, it sets a dangerous precedent. Did you know that more and more women refuse to comply with the law? Where is this going to end?”

Jack scowled at him and straightened. “So you’re just gonna arrest them all? You think that’s gonna take care of the problem?”

“It’s a start.”

“Oh for crying out loud, call the breeding facility and withdraw your order.” How could this guy be so damn stubborn? They’d gotten rid of the Aschen only to replace them with a crazy guy who thought Earth was his planet.

“I’m afraid that’s not possible. Miss Keller has already been paired with a compatible male.”

Faxon folded his arms. “The pairing process usually takes a couple of days. Who was she set up with?”

“Me.” Kinsey seated himself again. “Miss Keller and I were paired up before the revolution. She tried to subvert the system, and me, by running away from a breeding facility back then, but I won’t make the same mistake twice. I won’t let her leave my sight.”

Jack stared at him. So this was all personal for him? Some twisted way of taking revenge because Keller had run away from the breeding facility before the revolution? He remembered that she’d mentioned being paired up with an older guy. But Kinsey?

“Did you sign a contract yet?” Faxon asked, his arms folded.

“No. I’ll visit the breeding facility as soon as I’m done here.” Kinsey glowered at Jack. “I’m sure Miss Keller will understand that the alternative to signing the marriage contract won’t be very pleasant.”

“Kinsey, you…” Jack was about to march around the desk and beat the living daylights out of the self-righteous son of a bitch when Faxon put his hand on his shoulder.

“We didn’t know about your background with her, Bob,” Faxon said, a courteous but distant expression on his face. “She isn’t bound to another gifted man?”

Kinsey leaned back. “If she were, I couldn’t have arrested her, could I?”

“No, of course not.” Faxon nodded and turned to Jack. “Come on, let’s go. Nothing we can do here.”

“Oh, I’m just getting started. Kinsey, if you believe for a second that I’ll stand by and let you—“

“O’Neill.” Faxon’s hand on his shoulder squeezed tighter. “I said let’s go.”

Jack’s stomach roiled, but something about Faxon’s expression made him relent. Reluctantly, he followed him out of Kinsey’s office. When they hurried along the corridor, Faxon didn’t say a word.

After they entered his office, Jack exploded. “What the hell’s the matter with you? Why don’t we just shoot the guy and solve a whole slew of problems at once.”

“You left no doubt about your intention.” Face blank as always, Faxon sat down at his desk and opened a drawer. “Those methods might work well in the resistance, but they’re useless here. If you want to win against someone like Kinsey, you’ll have to beat him on his own terms.”

Jack watched as Faxon wrote something on a piece of paper, then pulled out a rubber stamp. “What are you doing?”

“You heard what Kinsey said. He wouldn’t have legal grounds to arrest Jennifer if she were legally bound to another gifted man. So let’s make sure that she is.” He didn’t look up.

Jack didn’t move a muscle. “What?”

“I’ll take her as my wife, if she’s a compatible match for me. We just need a contract and the approval of the Ministry of Procreation. Which is why I’m filing an urgent request for access to the genetic database, so that we can run a quick compatibility test. I’ll need your signature.”

“Has everybody lost their minds today? I’m not gonna sign anything that’ll put Keller into a forced marriage. Did you listen to anything I said in Kinsey’s office?” Jack paced up and down.

Faxon looked up. “Jack, I don’t want her as my wife. But unfortunately we’re out of options. On paper she has to be with a gifted man and Minister Kinsey doesn’t leave us enough time to issue a formal reproach. If we manage to get her to sign the contract with me before Kinsey goes to see her, she’ll be legally bound to a gifted man. He’ll have no way of forcing her into a marriage with him. It’s the only way she’ll be safe.”

Jack swallowed. As much as he hated to admit it, the plan had merit. “You’re not gonna force her to be with you.”

Faxon rolled his eyes. “Of course not.”

“She’s with McKay. If you touch her against her will—”

“I know.” Faxon looked up and held his gaze. “I assure you, I am not interested in her, but I’d be lying if I claimed my motifs to be entirely selfless. Since Sam dissolved our engagement, I’ve been able to avoid reporting to the breeding facility, but I have received numerous reminders. The arrangement will keep me as safe as Keller. She needs a gifted husband. I need a gifted wife.”

Jack dropped down into a chair. “Faxon, I gotta say, I didn’t like you initially. For obvious reasons.”

“Yeah, well, likewise.” His eyes sparkled, and a smile crossed his face. “Good thing we both changed our minds. Come on, let’s see if my assistant is done with the written order. And then we need to run the compatibility test. We also need to talk to McKay. I want him to go with us when we see Keller. If we show up alone, she probably won’t agree to sign anything.”

“Faxon.” Jack straightened. “If you’re honest about your intentions, you’re a good man. But Keller’s part of the resistance, and she’ll be working under my command at Antarctica. That makes her one of my people. If you’re trying any kind of monkey business with the contract, I’ll make sure you regret it.”

Faxon sighed and shook his head as he walked to the door. “I’m on your side, O’Neill. Our methods may be different, but our goals are the same. Now are you going to threaten me some more, or can we get going? We don’t have much time left.”

Releasing a heavy breath, Jack followed him. The situation wasn’t ideal, but then again nothing seemed to be ideal anymore nowadays.

 

***

 

Sam paced up and down the small cell. She couldn’t believe it. Arrested by humans. Not Aschen justice agents, _humans_. Who did those guys think they were? She kicked the metal bars with her foot and screamed through gritted teeth. Nothing had changed. The entire revolution had been in vain. Arms trembling with rage, she paced some more.

It had been at least three hours. How long were they going to keep her in here?

The door at the far end of the corridor creaked, then slammed shut. The sound echoed in the sparsely furnished corridor and cells.

She stepped back against the wall. Did they come to give her another lecture about her misconduct? Hopefully they hadn’t adapted the Aschen methods of interrogation. Every muscle in her body tensed. Steps grew louder. She took a deep breath and prepared herself to fight if necessary.

Hands in his pockets, Jack strolled around the corner into sight. “You know, Carter, I have an odd feeling of deja-vu. You getting into fistfights and being in confinement…” His gaze darted around the cell, then stopped at her. “I thought we talked about this kinda stuff.”

“Jack.” Tension fled her muscles and she hurried to the bars. Her fingers closed around the cold metal.

“Care to tell me why I gotta drive through half the city to bail you out of prison?”

She folded her arms. “What was I supposed to do? I couldn’t just stand by and do nothing. You should have seen them. They treated her like a criminal. Just for being with Rodney.”

“So you decided beating up three justice agents was the right way to solve the issue?” His eyes gleamed. Was he amused by this?

She cocked her head. “It was only two.”

“I hear one of them’s still being treated at the hospital.” The corners of his mouth twitched.

She frowned at him. “Jack. Did you come here to make fun of me?”

“A little.” He pulled a key out of his pocket and unlocked the door. “Faxon and I managed to talk the head of the justice department into letting you go with a warning.”

“Oh.” She pulled the barred door open and stepped outside. “Thank you.”

Face blank, he studied her. “Justice agents? Really?”

She sighed. “Fine, maybe it wasn’t a very smart move.”

“Ya think? You’re lucky they didn’t use their damn stun guns.” He took her hand and drew her into his arms. “Things have changed. Our resistance methods don’t work here in Powhatan, and that means we all gotta be more careful.”

“I know.” She buried her face in his neck. “Thank you for getting me out. What’ll happen to Jennifer?”

“McKay talked her into signing a marriage contract with Faxon.”

“What? Joe married Jennifer?” She lifted her head and stared at him.

“Just on paper. Kinsey was furious when he got to the breeding facility to sign their contract, and she told him she’d already married a gifted man.” He grinned.

“Kinsey isn’t a man to be messed with,” she said.

“Faxon’s a member of the POA, which offers him some protection, and he has the resistance behind him. Keller’ll stay with the Tok’ra for a while. Martouf promised me they’ll protect her, until the Antarctica base is set up, and we can all move there.” He took her hands and rubbed his thumbs along her wrists. “Which brings me to the good news. Faxon managed to convince the POA to let us reopen the Stargate.”

She beamed at him. “Really?”

“Yeah, but they don’t want the Stargate in Powhatan to be operational. Stargate Operations will have its base down at Antarctica where we’ll have to share the gate with the Tok’ra. They offered me the job as Head of Stargate Operations.”

“That’s great.” She squeezed his hands.

“You sure? We’d have to live at Antarctica. You know, polar nights and all. They did agree to give us a small budget to build log cabins, but it’ll still be a lot less pleasant than here in Powhatan.”

“I wouldn’t care if we had to live in a tent. Besides here they’ll never let me work as anything more than a file clerk.”

“Yeah… about that…” He flinched. “Apparently, Kinsey has banned you from science down there, too.”

Her stomach clenched. “What?” Her voice came out a shaky whisper.

“We’re working on it, so don’t worry about it for now.” He cupped her cheek and trailed his thumb along her lower lip. “On the bright side, we’ll be back at our camp.”

Her heart jumped. Back at Antarctica. Strange how fond she’d grown of the pine forests and barren coasts. “It’ll be like coming home.”

A warm smile crossed his features. “Yes, it will.”

“Did they say what our mission in going through the gate will be?”

“Making allies and acquiring technology.”

She held his gaze and sank into his deep, dark eyes. When she wrapped her arms around his neck and grazed her lips over his, he deepened the kiss. Four days had passed since she accepted his proposal. An eternity. How was she supposed to handle the time until the wedding?

“You know we’re breaking the abstinence rule, right?” Jack’s hot, fast breath fanned her face.

“I won’t tell if you won’t.” Her fingers curled at his nape.

“Only three more days.” His nose brushed against hers. “Then we’ll be off on a one week honeymoon. Far away from Powhatan, and politics and files. Just you, me, and the cabin.”

She bit her lower lip and lowered her eyes to his mouth. God, how much she wanted to kiss him, needed his warm touch on her bare skin. “And a bed?”

Eyes sparkling, he gave her lower lip a gentle nip. “Since when do we need that?”

She let out a yearning sigh. “I can’t wait.”


	50. I Do

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> This version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).
> 
>  
> 
> Now you can also find an ebook version of this story on my website, including lots of bonus material as well as the first publication version of Stargate Aschen. (Click image to download.)  
> 
> 
>   
>  [](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-free-stargate-sg-1-ebook/)   
>    
> 

Sam glanced at herself in the oversized mirror and took a deep breath. Her fingers clutched the thin satin of her lilac dress, and she had to force herself to relax them. For the first time in ages she was wearing a dress. Maybe she shouldn’t have cut her hair again. Long hair would have gone better with the elegantly flowing waterfall of satin that started right under her breasts. She adjusted the lacy straps.

Almost time. She blew out a slow stream of air. Would Jack show up? Or had he changed his mind? Her stomach tightened. He wouldn’t change his mind, would he?

And if he didn’t? Then she’d be a married woman in a few minutes. _Oh God…_ The knot in her stomach tightened. Tonight, she would no longer just be Sam Carter. She’d be Sam Carter, wife of Jack O’Neill.

Wasn’t she in way over her head? She’d never considered marrying this young. What if it didn’t work out? What if she disappointed him? What if either of them would want out in a year or two?

Jack had been with a lot of women before her. Had she missed out on something? Should they have taken more time? Would she have agreed to the contract if the gifted laws weren’t about to be reinstated? She closed her eyes and pressed a hand to her stomach. _Way too much thinking…_ “Ugh.”

“What?” In the corner of the room in front of another mirror, both Vala and Janet turned.

“I think I’m going to throw up.”

“Don’t you dare.” Janet turned back to the mirror and fastened a strand of hair behind her ear. “It took us almost an hour to do your hair and get all those little ribbons on the dress right.”

Sam sat down on one of the chairs near the wall and took a few deep breaths.

“Are you worried he changed his mind?” Vala asked. When Janet smacked her arm, she rolled her eyes.

Sam’s felt her stomach clench anew and blood drained from her face. “You think he won’t show? Did he say anything like that? Did Daniel say something?”

“No, sweetie.” Janet gave her a reassuring smile. “Nobody said anything. He’s here, and he’s happy to marry you. Vala’s just babbling without thinking first, as usual.”

Vala folded her arms. “It’s not my fault you’re giving the groom carte blanche to change his mind with your one week of abstinence thing. You have weird customs, you know. Signing a contract, abstinence, and you even keep your names. On my homeworld the bride has to take the name of her husband after the wedding.”

Sam sat up straight as her nausea slowly faded. “Not changing names makes it easier to track genetics of a person. Besides, why should the bride have to take her husband’s name? Why doesn’t he take hers?”

Vala shrugged. “To show that she belongs to him.”

“Wow…” Janet half turned, her fingers still busy with her hair. “That’s archaic.”

“It’s just a name,” Vala said.

“It’s who you are.” Sam got up.

Janet nodded. “I agree. Our name designates which family we come from, and who our ancestors are. They are part of our identity. It’s cruel to expect a woman to give that up and take on a new one—as though it doesn’t matter who she was before the marriage.”

“I’ve never seen it that way. Not that I cared much. I’m not so much the marriage type,” Vala said, grinning.

When the door opened, Sam turned. Her father peeked into the room. “Am I disturbing anything?”

“No, dad, come in.”

Her dad walked towards her and took her outstretched hands. He looked down her dress, then at her hair. “You know, you look a lot like your mother when she was your age.” He put her hand to his lips and pressed a warm kiss on it. “I’m so happy for you, Sam. Jack is a good man.”

“I know.” Her dad was right. Jack was gentle, smart, principled, and handsome. Her stomach fluttered with anticipation. “But to be honest, I could do with a little less nervousness just about now.”

“If you weren’t nervous, I’d be very concerned.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Why?”

“Not being nervous on your wedding day means it’s either a marriage of convenience, or you’re signing the contract too recklessly.” He shrugged. “Selmak says, a bride has to be nervous or it’s bad luck for the relationship.”

“Very helpful. Thanks.” Flinching, she studied herself in the mirror.

“Sam?” Her dad stepped behind her and rested his hands on her shoulders. “We never talked about this, but I know now I shouldn’t have gone over your head. I should have trusted you to make the choices for your future. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

She took his hand on her right shoulder, and brushed her thumb over his fingers. “Don’t be,” she said, turning to face him. “If you hadn’t signed the contract with Jack, I might have never met him. I would have ended up in a breeding facility, married to a random compatible male.”

He squeezed her hand. “The one thing I always regretted was that I had to comply with the Aschen breeding schedule to keep my cover. I should have let your mother out of her vow.”

“You didn’t have a choice.”

“There’s always a choice if you look hard enough.”

She dropped a gentle kiss on her father’s hand. “Things aren’t as simple as they seem from a distance. I know that now.”

He held her gaze and his mouth pulled into a gentle smile. “I hope you’ll find all the happiness in the world.”

“Thank you.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I love you, dad.”

The door squeaked open, and a man peeked inside. “We’re ready to start. Is everyone present?”

“We’re all here.” Janet turned. “Do you want us to come outside now?”

He took a step inside and pushed the door almost closed. “No. We’ll have the groom and his best man take positions first. As soon as the music starts, the two bridesmaids should walk down the aisle to the front row and take the first two seats on the left. After you two are seated, the bride will walk down the aisle, her father right behind her.”

“Understood.” Janet nodded and rushed to the door where she sneaked a glance outside. Vala followed her.

Sam took another deep breath. “Okay. That’s it.”

Her dad squeezed her arms. “You couldn’t make a better choice.”

She gave him a cheeky grin. “You’re just saying that because my choice incidentally happens to be the same one you made.”

He laughed. “You know me, as long as I’m right, everything’s fine.”

She smoothed her dress out, then stepped up behind Janet and Vala. She was marrying Jack. From now on, nothing would keep them apart. They’d share everything. Euphoria flooded her when a soft piano tune drifted from outside.

Vala and Janet opened the door further and left the room.

“Just breathe, kiddo.” Her father squeezed her hands.

“Thanks dad.” She peeked outside. Vala and Janet took their seats in the first row. She blew out a slow stream of air and smoothed her dress down one last time. As beautiful as it had looked in the display, she couldn’t wait to wear her khakis and a simple shirt again.

 _All right. Just breathe. And don’t stumble._ She left the room and followed the red carpet with slow, deliberate steps.

The carpet led to a large desk at the end of the room. As she approached, the grumpy looking government official behind it looked up, and his eyes narrowed in obvious impatience. She had to stifle a smile. Another thing that hadn’t changed. Most wedding officials were known for their impatience.

She shifted her gaze to the right, and her heart skipped a beat. Jack wore the dark blue trousers and matching jacket of the new POA uniform. They hugged his body as though they’d been tailored just for him, emphasizing his height and broad chest. Excitement tingled in her stomach as her eyes drank in every detail of his appearance.

He turned his head. Appreciation flashed in his eyes, and a smile made the corners of his mouth twitch. When she reached the front desk, she had to tear her gaze away from him.

A golden sign on the desk said _Watson_. Undoubtedly the name of the grumpy official. Watson studied her, then her father, before his gaze darted back to her. “Are you here of your own free will?”

She nodded firmly. “Yes, I am.”

Watson lowered his gaze and searched through a few papers on his desk. “Very well. Jacob Carter?”

Her dad stepped up next to her.

Paper crinkled, and finally Watson looked up. “Do you agree to give this woman, your daughter, into the care of this man, Jack O’Neill?”

“I do.” He nodded and let go of her arm to take a seat next to Janet and Vala.

“All right.” Watson studied her over the rims of his glasses. “You’re gifted, so I’ll need your genetic inheritance sheets and the signed permission of the Ministry of Procreation.”

“Oh.” Behind Sam, Vala jumped up. “Sorry. I almost forgot that. Here.” She handed the papers over the table.

The older man studied them for a minute before he nodded. “They seem to be in order.” He nodded to Jack. “You may now step forward and claim your bride.”

 _Claim her…_ For some reason her body tingled with anticipation at those words. She would finally be his. When Jack walked towards her, she turned to him and bit her lower lip. His eyes, so deep and dark, held hers while he reached out and took her hands in his. His thumbs drew gentle circles on her pulse points. Goosebumps danced down her arms, and all nervousness fled her body.

Watson’s chair creaked as he slid a piece of paper over the table. “Please sign your names under the marriage contract.”

Jack released her hands and turned to the table where he picked up the quill. In elegant letters he signed his name on the bottom of the paper. Then he turned and handed the quill over to Sam. She took it and lowered her gaze to the paper, her thumbs brushing over the roughened surface in quiet appreciation. Her own marriage contract with her signature.

With careful movements, she put her signature next to Jack’s and then paused to look at the piece of paper again. Her heart jumped as she put the quill back in its holder, and then she slid the paper back over to the official.

“Very well.” Watson nodded and placed the contract in a blank folder. Their new family folder. He placed it on the desk and then picked up a golden tray with two traditional white wedding sashes on them, then he came around the desk.

“Please each take one of these sashes and speak your wedding vows while you place it around your spouse’s neck.”

Sam swallowed and picked up one sash with golden engravings on it. Then she lifted her gaze to Jack’s and reached her arms over his head to put the cloth around his neck. Her skin buzzed when her fingers grazed against his warm neck.

“Almost two years ago, I ran away from home to escape our marriage. I thought our relationship would weaken me and turn me into a prisoner. But you…” She lowered her hands to his chest and blinked, her throat tightening. “…you helped me become so much more than I ever dreamed I would be. You put your trust and unconditional confidence in me. And today, I want to put my trust and unconditional confidence in you by taking you as my husband. You’re an amazing man and I want to face the future with you by my side.”

Jack took one of her hands from his chest and dropped a kiss on her fingers. Then he reached for the remaining sash and placed it around her neck, his thumbs caressing her cheeks tenderly.

“You know how much I hate speeches. So after a lot of failed attempts at writing a vow, and a coupla angry rants from Daniel concerning this matter…”

She bit her lower lip in a futile attempt to remain serious.

A slow smirk pulled at his lips. “…I have decided to keep this simple. The moment we met, I thought you were an extraordinary woman, but you’re more than I ever dared to dream of. I don’t regret a single moment we shared along our bumpy road.” He faltered, keeping his face blank. “Actually, if I had the chance, I would probably forego signing that damn wedding contract over your head.”

She had to fight another smile. Only he would improvise in a situation like this. Affection pulled at her, and she forced herself to grow serious again.

“What I’m tryin’ to say is, I can’t promise you happily ever after. But I do promise to love you, and respect you, and cherish you on our road ahead. Whatever happens, we’re a team.” He let his arms sink and took her hands, linking their fingers. “Always.”

She swallowed against the lump in her throat and squeezed his hands. His dark gaze held hers as he inched closer.

“Very well.” Watson’s buzzing voice broke the spell. “I hereby pronounce you two officially bound.”

Eyes gleaming, Jack drew her toward him. Her stomach tingled in anticipation when his scent flooded her nostrils, and she held her breath until, at last, his lips grazed hers. When he wrapped his arms around her and dipped her down, she grabbed his shoulders. His tongue delved inside her mouth, stroking against hers, and she sighed.

When he pulled her back to a standing position, her head swam. Thank God he had the common sense to steady her before he let go, otherwise she might have tumbled to the floor. The twinkle in his eyes told her that he was aware of the impact his kiss had on her.

Face still close to hers, he took her hand and linked their fingers. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” As a child, she’d never been one of those little girls who dreamed of their wedding and planned out every single detail in her mind. She’d been more interested in physics and astronomy. And yet, at this very moment, she couldn’t remember ever being so happy. Not even her first trip through the Stargate compared to finally marrying the man she loved.

 

***

 

Loud laughter sounded from the living room downstairs where most of the party guests had gathered. Sam strolled along the corridor until she reached the closed door at the end. It creaked when she gave it a light push.

Mark’s room. As though it were a sanctuary, she entered and blinked into the darkness. How long it had been since that night she’d sneaked in here to steal his clothes and run away… And even longer since she’d tried to steal his toys.

Smiling, she strolled over to the wall. Dust had collected on the shelves and books. She picked up one of the action figures standing on the middle shelf. An Aschen justice agent, complete with uniform and weapon. How different their lives had been when they had still idolized the Aschen and what they represented.

When she moved the figure’s little arm, it gave a faint squeak. She bit her lower lip and chuckled.

The light went on and she blinked for a moment before she turned, the action figure still in her hand. Mark entered, his arms folded, his curly blonde hair wild and ruffled. “Trying to steal my stuff again, ‘lil sis?”

She chortled and held the figure up. “Don’t tell me you still wanna play with these.”

“No, but I didn’t think you’d want to either after everything.” He grinned, but then his face grew serious. “I still can’t believe all this time you and dad were part of the resistance, and nobody bothered to include us.”

She let her arms sink and shook her head. “For a long time, I didn’t know dad was part of it. He didn’t tell me either. If he had, things would have been a lot simpler.”

“I can imagine.” He leaned back and studied her. “I just had a chat with Jack.”

What was with that undertone? “And?”

“He told me about how you met. That was pretty reckless of you.”

She laughed. “Believe me, if I had known most of the guys in that bar were slave traders and weapon dealers, I don’t think I would have had the guts to go inside.”

Eyes wide, Mark sat down on the bed. “What are you talking about?”

She swallowed hard. “What are _you_ talking about?”

“I was referring to how you attacked him with a knife at the barn.”

“Oh.” So Jack had left out the part about the forest bar, and how he’d drugged and kidnapped her. She smiled and lowered her head. “Yeah. That was pretty reckless, too.”

“Is there something else I should know about?” Mark sounded amused.

“No.” A laugh escaped her. “Some things better stay between him and me.”

“He seems like a decent guy.”

“He is.” She strolled over to the bed and sat down next to him. “Dad likes him.”

“I noticed that.” Mark squeezed her hand and then took the action figure to study it. “I can’t believe we constantly fought over this ugly thing. The funny thing is, I didn’t even want it that badly. I just wanted to pick on you.”

“Hey.” She smacked him and tried to take the figure from him.

Grinning, he pulled it out of her reach. “You would just use it for target practice.”

“I wouldn’t.” She gave up and looked at him. “You know, if you hadn’t taught me how to handle a knife, things wouldn’t have worked out so well.”

“Good thing I didn’t teach you well enough or you might have killed Jack.”

“Doubtful. His close combat skills are out of this world,” she said.

He let the action figure sink and took her hand. “Sam, I hope you’ll be happy with him. He really cares for you. But if you ever need anything or if anything ever happens, I’m still your big brother. You can always come to me.”

She studied him for a long moment. “I know. Thank you.”

“After you ran away…” He took a deep breath. “John, David, even Dad… They all thought you’d killed yourself. Dad never told anyone, and he never stopped searching, but I knew when I looked into his eyes.”

“And you?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t want to believe it. You’ve always been a fighter. I couldn’t believe that you would just give up like that. But…”

“But what?”

“I stopped looking. I was scared that if we kept searching, we might find your body somewhere. Not knowing, I could pretend you’d gone into hiding to live under a different name in some remote village, where the Aschen wouldn’t find you.” He gave a chuckle. “Of course I never imagined you’d go and search for the resistance.” He reached over and ruffled her hair. “Little rebel.”

“Stop that.” She wriggled away from him. “Vala and Janet took forever with the flower crown and I want it to look at least somewhat decent when I dance with Jack.”

Mark broke out in laughter, and then held the action figure out at her. “Here, keep it. Consider it a wedding gift. It’ll remind you that you drove the Aschen off Earth. So whatever problems you might have to face in the future, you’ll handle them.”

Her heart swelled with affection and a lump formed in her throat. “Thank you.”

“Oh, and dad said there’s a box with some of mom’s old stuff in your room. He packed some of her things for each of us. Look through it, and see if you want to keep anything.”

She got up. “I will do that. I already did my packing, so…” She waved her hand at the door.

“Feels kind of final, doesn’t it? Having to pack up everything you want to keep on your wedding day?” He buried his hands in his pockets.

“Yeah.” She studied the figure in her hand.

“Take your time with it, and enjoy the moment. I’ll be downstairs.” He winked at her. “I need to grill Jack about that slave trader bar.”

“Oh God.” Laughing, she followed him out of his room and walked to her own. She wrapped her arms around herself, when she entered it. A strange sense of longing for the past took over.

It felt as though she had slept in that bed just yesterday. She could almost hear Minny enter her room in the morning, could almost smell the scent of fresh coffee that wafted in with her.

Sadness swallowed up her joy for a moment. So many things had changed. She hadn’t seen Minny again since her betrayal. Good old Minny, who had been like a mother to her—and who had then betrayed her family. Had the revolution changed her mind, or did she still side with the Aschen?

She looked around her room and then picked up a few of her old clothes lying on the bed. Before she’d run away from home, there seemed to be an answer to everything. Things had been so simple when she had seen them in black and white. But now… After everything she’d been through, the line between right and wrong had become so blurred.

She glanced down at the box on the ground next to her bed, then picked it up and took the cover off it. Her mother’s things. She even remembered some of them, now that she saw them again. A shawl, a necklace, a few smaller items that looked like personal mementos. A book.

She ran her fingers along the dusty back and pulled it out of the box. Her mom’s diary…

As though it were a sacred text, she opened it slowly and skimmed the first pages. All of the initial entries were drawings, or consisted of only two or three sentences riddled with spelling errors. _Mom must have started writing this when she was a child._

She flipped through some more pages, until the entries grew longer and more mature. How her mom had met a boy from the village she grew up in, how they sneaked out of the house at night, how he’d first kissed her…

Flinching, she skipped over a few pages that clearly described first sexual experiences. Apparently, her mom had broken the sexual restrictions law. Who’d have thought?

She opened a page close to the middle and stopped at an entry from the year 759. _“Today they told me I’m gifted…”_

Holding her breath, she ran her fingers over the writing, and began to read.

_“Two Aschen officials stopped by our house. They gave me until tomorrow to pack up my belongings and say goodbye to my loved ones. They will pair me up with a compatible man. I don’t know how I will survive never seeing Derrick again.”_

Her throat constricted. Her mom had still been in love with another man when they’d deported her to a breeding facility? _How come dad never told me about this?_

She turned two more pages.

_“More tests. Every day they come and do blood tests or run other medical experiments. Do they even see us as humans? Or have we become no more than lab rats in their eyes? I’m never allowed to leave my room. Every day, a nurse brings me food, but that’s all the social interaction I get. They’re keeping us all in solitary confinement. The Aschen doctors told me the isolation will make me more receptive to my future husband._

_But nothing they do to me will make me like him even a little bit. My heart will always belong to Derrick. My heart… That’s all I can still keep for him, because my body is no longer my own.”_

The letters started swimming in front of her eyes. How horrible that had to be, being in love with a man, but being forced into a marriage with another by the Aschen. If Jack weren’t gifted, she would have shared her mother’s fate. If her dad hadn’t signed the wedding contract with Jack behind her back…

She swallowed hard. So many people weren’t as lucky and she had been. Jennifer and Rodney. Joe and his former fiancée. And after everything, the gifted system still continued.

The door creaked. Vision blurred, she looked up. Jack peaked into the room. “There you are. Sheppard and McKay are fighting over food downstairs. I’m afraid they won’t even stop at the cake if we don’t hurry.” He straightened and raised his brows, undoubtedly noticing the tears on her cheeks. “You know the whole deal with you packing up your stuff’s only an empty tradition, right? You can come back here whenever you like.”

“Yeah.” She shook out a laugh and wiped the back of her hand across her cheeks.

Concern softened his gaze as he entered the room. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing. I just…” She held up the book. “Dad gave me a box with mom’s old stuff, and I found her diary. I shouldn’t have started reading it today.”

He sat down on the bed next to her. “What’s it say?”

“She wrote about how she learned she was gifted. She was in love with another man and…” Her voice broke. “They didn’t care. They forced her to have sex with my dad. All those years when I was growing up, she lived through hell, and I never knew.” Her breath hitched. “Then I thought about Jennifer and Rodney, and how if either you or me weren’t gifted, we wouldn’t be allowed to be together.”

“Hey.” He drew her into his arms, and she buried her face in his neck.

“Joe told me he wanted to marry the woman he loved, but she wasn’t gifted. It repeats. Over and over again, and we’ll never stop it.”

“Carter.” He drawled her name and dropped a warm kiss under her ear. “We will stop it. Someday. Give it time. For now, their marriage contract will keep both, Faxon and Keller safe. The Tok’ra will protect her, so the POA won’t touch her.”

“Yes, she’s safe, and so am I. But how many gifted women out there aren’t as lucky?” She played with the hair at his nape while she glanced down at the diary. Jack flipped through the pages, then closed the book.

“We can’t change the way the world works in a day, you know.” He put the diary back in the box, then pulled out the necklace.

Sam rubbed her palm over her damp cheek once more. “It’s the only necklace I ever saw her wearing. In her diary she says that the man she loved gave it to her. When they pulled her out of the lake…after… She still wore this necklace.” She ran her fingers across the blue topaz.

Jack shifted. “Turn around.”

When she did, he laid the necklace around her neck and closed it in the back.

When she turned back to him, a gentle smile played around the corners of his mouth. “The gem is the same color as your eyes.”

She touched the stone with her fingers, then cupped his cheek and inched closer. “I love you.” She sniffed as her lips brushed along his, then she leaned her forehead against his shoulder.

“You know you’re kinda messing with my plans here.” When she lifted her head, a lopsided smile pulled at his lips. “I told your dad once, I wouldn’t take you home crying on our wedding day.”

She let out a shaky chuckle and wiped her fingers across her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

His thumb brushed over the wet trail on her cheek. “I promise, we’re gonna make this right. Somehow. We got rid of the Aschen. I’ll be damned if we can’t find a way to handle a nutjob like Kinsey.”

She sat up straight, her fingers grazing the topaz around her neck once more. “I know we will.”

He nuzzled her temple. “Sheppard’s gonna have the jumper ready around eleven. You think you’ll be done packing by then?”

“I’m already done.”

“You wanna take all of these?” He waved his hand around at the boxes.

“No, just those two next to the door. Dad asked me to pack everything I want to keep, so he can store it in the attic. Those over there I’ll take with us to Antarctica.” She picked up the box with her mother’s belongings. “And this one.”

“Sheppard and I will take them to the jumper later.” He held his hand out to her. “If you’re done here, may I have the traditional dance with the bride?”

Smiling, she grazed her fingers along his palm. “I might step on your foot.”

“I can handle that.” He drew her close. “By the way, you look absolutely stunning in that dress.”

Her cheeks warmed. “You’re not so bad yourself.”

“We better go downstairs, before I get ideas about throwing you down on the bed.”

“Don’t you dare. Removing the wedding sashes before midnight is bad luck.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Since when do you believe in luck?”

“Since I met you.” She linked their fingers.

He was right, they would fix the remaining problems on Earth, but today was for celebrating the few things that had worked out.

Gaze locked with his, she drew him out of the room. It was time for dancing.

 

***

 

Only a soft thud betrayed that the jumper had set down. The hum of the engines grew quieter, and died. The hatch gave a high buzz when it opened.

Sam inhaled deeply. The scent of damp forest and fresh grass reached her nostrils. She stepped out of the jumper and blinked. The log cabin stood dark in front of her. In the pale moonlight, she recognized the table on the porch and a few cans that hung down from the window frame as makeshift wind chimes.

One week… Giddiness spread through her. Last time they’d only had three days. Seven days seemed like an eternity compared to that.

When Jack’s mouth dropped a hot kiss on her neck, she yelped and turned in his arms. “Don’t we have any stuff to take in?”

“Nope.” His eyes shimmered almost black. “I already took care of everything the day before yesterday. Sheppard’ll take our boxes down to Antarctica and put them in storage there until next week.”

He reached down and swooped her up on his arms. She gave a shocked gasp. “Jack, your knee—”

“Will be fine.” He nuzzled her temple. “At least until I’ve carried you over the threshold.”

“Haven’t we done that already?”

“That was for the last contract. This one’s for today.” His eyes gleamed. “Not taking any chances with that luck thing.”

Giggling, she leaned her head against his shoulder. “You’re gonna need help again with the door.”

“Teamwork,” he said grinning.

“Have fun, you two,” Sheppard shouted from the jumper. “I’ll come back in a week and pick you up.”

The humming of the jumper engine picked up again, and slowly grew quieter. As they reached the door, Sam pushed the handle and ducked her head when they entered. Inside, Jack set her down and pushed the door shut behind him without taking his eyes off her.

Her insides tingled with anticipation. His index finger trailed up her arm, leaving goosebumps. When he reached the wedding sash, he ran his palm over it.

“Any regrets?” His voice sounded throaty.

She shook her head. “No. You?”

“Not a chance.”

She bit her lower lip and trailed her fingers up along his arm.

In an almost reverent move, he pulled the sash over her head and then shifted so that she could do the same for him. She put them both over the backrest of the couch to fold them up later.

When she turned, Jack stood right in front of her. His gaze heated as his eyes trailed down to her lips, then lower. His height put her off every time. Maybe because there weren’t many human men taller than her. Her breath quickened as she touched her fingers to his chest.

Married. He was hers now, and she was his. For good. She grabbed the sleeve of his uniform, and pulled him with her toward the bedroom. “Make love to me.”

**_{SHORTENED to keep this version M-rated! You can find the[full version on my website](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-chapter-50-i-do-unabridged/).}_ **

 

***

 

Sometime later, they lay on their sides, facing the open window. Sam shifted when a warm breeze caressed her overheated skin. Slowly, the feeling returned to her limbs.

When Jack’s hot lips tickled her shoulder, she opened her eyes. “Mmm…”

He nuzzled her ear. “You look exhausted. You wanna sleep?”

Smiling, she turned on her back. “Not tonight. I don’t want to waste one second of feeling you close.”

His thumb traced her lower lip. “I’m gonna need a moment to recharge.”

Giggling, she buried her face in his neck. “I wore you out?”

“Sure did.” He released a long shaky breath. “Not that I’m complaining.”

She lay quiet for a moment, her cheek and ear against his chest as she listened to his heartbeat. “I don’t think I’ll ever regret marrying you.”

His grip on her tightened and he dropped a warm kiss on the top of her head. “Neither will I.” Another moment of silence. Then he shifted. “I’m kinda hungry… So how about I grill us some steaks, we’ll have a cold beer and watch the sunrise at the pond?”

“That sounds amazing.”

When he was about to get up, she grabbed his hand and pulled him close once more. “I hope this will never change.”

“What?”

“Us. I hope we’ll always be like this. You know, gentle, loving, understanding, respectful of each other. Even in eighty or a hundred years.”

“We will.” He leaned in. “I promise.”

She parted her lips for him. If it stayed like this between them for the rest of their lives, she’d never ask for anything else again.


	51. Free

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks go to my beta-readers Esmejasper, Channach and Raven Clark who all put lots of time into this story and without whom this story wouldn't be what it is. 
> 
> This version will be the M-rated (censored version). I know there are many people who prefer to read non-explicit romances, so if you're one of those persons, this version is for you. If you'd rather read the explicit version that contains full, unabridged sex scenes, please [head over to my website and read the story there](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-a-romance-based-on-stargate-sg-1/).
> 
>  
> 
> Now you can also find an ebook version of this story on my website, including lots of bonus material as well as the first publication version of Stargate Aschen. (Click image to download.)  
> 
> 
>   
>  [](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-free-stargate-sg-1-ebook/)   
>    
> 

Rain pelted down into the thick pine forests, forming little streams as it ran from the roof of the small log cabin to collect in puddles on the muddy ground. Sam picked up her pace, the blankets in her arms clutched against her chest. Mud squished under her feet.

During the past few months she’d forgotten how hostile the climate in Antarctica could be. Icy rain showers, strong crisp winds blowing over from the nearby ocean, and of course much too short days with way too little sunshine.

She hurried up the three wooden steps to the front door of the cabin and ripped it open. Thank God, they’d finished building the first log cabins today. Those cabins would at least provide more resilient shelter against the gusts of wind and the cold temperatures.

She pulled the door shut behind her and shook the water from her arms. They’d moved mattresses and bedsheets in first thing that morning, so at least their bed would be dry.

Arms wrapped around herself, she took a deep breath. The scent of new wood mixed with pine and rain filled her nostrils. Smiling, she looked around. Not much space, but compared to living in a tiny tent, this was a palace.

She strolled over to the bed alcove and glance out of the window above the bed. If she hung the curtains along the front of the alcove, the bed would be separated from the rest of the cabin. She climbed onto the mattress and crawled over to open the window. Crisp, wet air blew inside.

“Where does this stuff go?”

She turned her head. Jack stood at the door, his arms and hair dripping from the rain. So was the box in his hands.

Flinching, she closed the window. “Please tell me this isn’t the box with my books.”

“Of course not. It’s the one with our clothes.”

“Oh. Well, we don’t have a wardrobe yet, so why don’t you put it down against the wall somewhere?” Back against the cold window, she studied him. Her husband. And her new home. Excitement tingled in her stomach.

Jack brushed the water out of his hair and looked up, a twinkle in his eyes. “Whatcha doing?”

“I was just wondering if I should use our drapes to separate the bed alcove from the rest of the room. It’s perfect for it, and that way we’d have more privacy in bed.”

“Sounds good.” He climbed on the bed and moved closer until their faces were inches apart.

She cupped his face with her hands, her thumb brushing over his cheeks. “You’re all wet.”

“So are you.” Before she had a chance to answer, he took her mouth with his. His tongue stroked against hers in a sensual game, and her heart sped up. After their week-long honeymoon, how was it possible she wanted him with an intensity as though they hadn’t seen each other for weeks? She sighed into the kiss.

When he withdrew, her breath came fast and the room spun. He brushed his nose against hers. “We should put the bedsheets on, before you soak the mattress with your dripping, wet...”

“Jack!” She smacked his chest.

“…clothes.”

“Oh.”

His eyes gleamed as his gaze dropped to her lips. “What did you think I was gonna say?”

Her cheeks warmed. “Nothing. Never mind.”

He smirked and leaned in to nip her earlobe. “Still so much fun to make you blush.”

“I miss being on honeymoon with you.” She wrapped her arms around him and shifted so she could lie on her back. “You know, spending all day in bed.”

“We can do that once we’re done with this. The Stargate won’t reopen for another month or so until at least half of the cabins are built.” He steadied himself on his forearms and brushed the wet hair off her forehead. “That’ll give us plenty of time.”

“I’d like that.”

He took her mouth in a gentle kiss and then turned on his back and lay next to her, their shoulders touching.

“I was thinking about putting a bookshelf up there.” He pointed at a point on the wall above the bed. “What do you think?”

“Really? In here?” She beamed at him.

He smirked. “The bed alcove isn’t very big, and that’s better than you spreading all your books out on the mattress.”

“I love you so much.” She tangled her fingers through his damp hair and leaned in for another lingering kiss. A knock from the door made them both sigh.

“Guess we’re gonna have to get used to being disturbed again,” Jack said.

Sam giggled against his shoulder, and sat up with him. “It’s open.”

The door opened and Daniel peeked inside. “Hey.” He grinned. “What are you two doing?”

Jack rolled his eyes. “Not much. What’s up?”

“We were gonna bring the hovercraft with the furniture up the hill, but we’ll need your help to get everything into the cabins.”

Sam slid off the bed. “Really? We’re gonna bring the rest of the furniture in today?”

Jack nodded. “Yeah, for the few folks who are here already.”

Daniel brushed through his hair and little droplets of water spilled to the ground. “We only have couches and tables so far. We’ll have to get the rugs and shelves from town tomorrow.”

“No problem, I’ll be right out,” Jack said.

“I’ll help.” Sam straightened.

“I’ll handle that. Can you get the last coupla boxes from our tent?” He leaned in to her ear and dropped a warm kiss right under it, before he lowered his voice. “And start with the curtains. When I make love to you tonight I don’t wanna have to worry about somebody bursting in.”

“Okay.” Her skin buzzed with his closeness. She grazed her palms up and down his arms. “I’ll get the bed ready, too.”

“Now there’s an idea.”

Daniel stuck his hands in his pockets. “Vala said when we’re done we could all have dinner together at the food tent.”

“Yeah.” Jack flinched. “Let’s move the food tent into the food cabin first, though.”

Daniel groaned. “Today?”

“It’s not gonna take long if we all help.”

Sam grabbed the plastic sheet she had used earlier to shield some boxes from the rain. “I’ll give Siler a heads up. Maybe we can get started while you guys do the furniture.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Jack nodded. “All right, kids. Let’s get to work.”

 

***

 

Shivering, Sam dropped down on the couch in front of the small fireplace in the corner. “You know, I don’t think we thought it all the way through when we picked this cabin.”

Jack peeked out of the alcove. “Why? It’s close to the lake.”

“But far from the bath house.” She dried her hair the second time that day.

“Aww, Carter, don’t tell me a two-minute run through icy rain ruins your mood.” He grinned and waved her over. “Come here for a sec. See if you like this.”

She got up from the couch and walked over to the bed alcove. When he pulled the curtain aside, her breath caught. He’d fixed two wooden shelves on the wall behind their pillows. “Those are great.”

“I can fix another one.”

“Two’s more than enough. I don’t even have enough books to fill one of them.”

“That’ll change soon.” He slid down the side of the bed and placed the hammer and screwdrivers back in a box to the side.

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that. Kinsey made it clear he doesn’t want me working in the science department.” She swallowed against the knot in her stomach. If only Kinsey didn’t have so much influence on the POA.

Jack linked their fingers and drew her with him to the couch, where he pulled her to sit between his legs, her back against his chest. “Don’t worry about that goon so much. The POA put me in charge of Stargate Operations, so I get to make the personnel choices.”

“Yes, but Kinsey ordered the science department not to let me work on anything related to science. And even though McKay keeps me up to date, if I were to work with them, all the accomplishments would go on record under his name. I know it’s not about reputation, but still…”

“Kinsey’s an ass who won’t change his ways. His standing order said not to put you in the existing science department. But we’ll need a department of alien technology as soon as the Stargate’s officially reopened for missions.” He nuzzled her temple. “Guess who’s gonna be heading that?”

She straightened in his arms and turned. “Isn’t that science too?”

“Sorta. But Kinsey’s order was about the current science teams working with human or Aschen technology. He never mentioned any future sections, or alien technology. As head of that department, you’d have to cooperate with McKay, of course. You know, to stay in the loop and all,” he said.

“Kinsey’s never gonna allow all that.”

“He doesn’t have a choice ‘cause I already got the written confirmation from the POA.”

She stared at him. “How did you do that?”

“If there’s one thing Faxon’s good at, it’s handling the POA.” He tangled his hand in her hair and pulled her to him. “A skill I lack entirely.”

“You’re good at getting things done. He’s good at getting you permission for doing it.” Smiling, she stared into the calm flickering of the flames. “You two are a good team.”

“Sometimes I miss the days where we didn’t have to get permission for every single thing. Seemed so much more effective.” He sighed and leaned back, hiw face growing serious. “Faxon’s gonna run.”

“Where?”

He chuckled. “To become the leader of the POA. If we ever have elections, Faxon’s agreed to run against Kinsey to become president and head of the POA.” His warm lips dropped a kiss on her nape, and then a second one on where her neck met her shoulder.

She trembled and linked their fingers. Every muscle in her body ached from carrying furniture and boxes all day, and yet his tender caresses stirred need inside her. “Kinsey’s not gonna like that.”

“Nope.” Another kiss right under her ear. “But I told Faxon, the resistance is behind him. I didn’t like him at first, but now I think he’d be the guy we need to bring stability to Earth. He wants to make politics for everyone, he’s diplomatic, and a large majority of non-gifted people support him.”

“A few won’t rest until a non-gifted person is in charge,” she said, thoughtful.

“Who knows, maybe Fraiser and Beckett have success with the cure for infertility. Then that wouldn’t matter anymore.”

“That’d be nice.”

He chuckled. “Enough politics for now. What do you say we try out our soft new bed? We’ll close all the curtains and leave just one of the safety lamps on.” He grazed his mouth along her skin, his warm breath washing down her neck. “And then I’ll count every single one of your freckles with my mouth. All over your body.”

A pang of heat stabbed at her. “I’d like that.”

“Why don’t you get comfortable while I put out the fire?”

Skin buzzing with anticipation, she strolled over to the bed and dropped her robe to the floor. After she had pulled the window curtains closed, she sank into the soft mattress and stared at the wooden ceiling. Head of the alien technology department… Definitely a position she’d like.

The mattress shifted when Jack climbed onto the bed next to her. He pulled the curtains closed so that only the safety lamp on the shelf bathed them in a soft light. She trailed her fingertips along his shoulder and down his biceps, tracing his muscles.

His gaze heated when his gaze dropped. He trailed his palm down over her bare stomach in a light caress, and goosebumps danced down her arms. “Jack…”

When he trailed his lips down along her bare neck and towards her breasts, all thoughts vanished from her mind.

The rest of the world could wait. Tomorrow would be another day.

 

***

 

_2 weeks later_

 

Head lying against the armrest of the couch, Jack shielded his eyes from the sun leaking in through the curtains. Damn headaches and flashbacks. These ones were definitely stronger than the last. And the pills Keller had given him weren’t working.

He shifted his head to loosen his neck muscles. If the strength of the side effects were any indication, his nightmares would be worse this time. Last time he’d been able to manage them. He’d woken up, and after a stroll through camp and a cup of hot tea with Sam on the porch, everything had been fine.

Groaning, he sat up and stretched. The pain grew slightly weaker. Maybe the pain meds were kicking in after all.

When the door opened, he lifted his head. Sam entered, face and arms covered in grease and dirt. He raised his eyebrows. “What on earth happened to you?”

“Jack.” She stopped. “I didn’t know you’re back so early. What time is it?”

“Two.”

She paled, then swallowed visibly. “Oh. How was the session?”

“Kinda sucked. I think they reactivated more than one memory this time.”

She flinched, undoubtedly in sympathy, and took a few steps towards him. “Do you need anything?”

“No, Keller already gave me a pill. I’m just waiting for the headache to stop so I can take a nap.” He straightened and waved at her. “So, what happened to you?”

“Well…” She shifted from one foot to the other and fidgeted. “I’m working on the hovercraft.”

“Still?” Realization dawned on him. He groaned. “Carter… Don’t tell me you took it apart.”

Another flinch, this time clearly from guilt. “I didn’t. Not entirely. I just wanted to look at the engine and…”

“I said check the rudder.” He pressed his palms to his eyes.

“I know. And I did. But when that was done, I wanted to see if I can optimize the air flow and increase thrust to make it faster. Since I was already at it and have nothing else to do…”

Jack sighed and lifted his head. “Promise me this isn’t gonna be another refrigerator incident.”

“ _That_ was an accident. I asked Siler twice if he’d unplugged the generator. And he still insists he did, so maybe someone else plugged it back in. Siler’s usually very reliable.”

He stared at her. “I don’t care whose fault it was. The damn thing blew up and set the entire kitchen on fire.”

“I know. But we got it under control.”

“Yeah.” He gave a sarcastic chuckle. “We had to rebuild half the room. And order new appliances.”

She bit her lower lip. “I know. It’s just…” She blew out a breath. “I’m going crazy here. I have nothing to do since McKay was instructed by the POA not to let me anywhere near the science department. They won’t even let me look at Aschen technology from afar. I know the Stargate will be officially reopened next week, but right now I feel like I’m completely useless.”

She dropped her arms, an epitome of misery with her skin darkened with grease.

Sighing, he held out his hand. “C’mere.”

“I’m gonna get you all dirty.” Visibly hesitant, she took a step toward him.

“I don’t care.” He took her hand and drew her close enough so he could bury his face against her stomach. Her fingers ran through his hair in a gentle caress when he lifted his head to look into her clear blue eyes. “The situation’s not ideal at the moment. It’ll get better, I promise.”

“I know you’re doing your best, and I didn’t mean to complain.”

“You have every right to. The only reason you’re not in charge of the science department is that Kinsey thinks women shouldn’t work. If I were in your place, I’d go nuts. Unfortunately, the POA has the last word when it comes to human and Aschen technology.” He scraped his hand through his hair as a thought occurred to him. “Have you talked to the Tok’ra?”

“About what?” She cupped his face with her hands and brushed her thumb along his lower lip.

“Well, since Kinsey’s such a pain in the ass, and you don’t have anything to do, it’d be a great opportunity to brush up your knowledge of Goa’uld technology. I’m sure Jolinar or your dad would let you play with some of their doohickeys.”

Her face brightened. “Would that be okay?”

“Yeah, sure. Why not?”

“The POA’s standing order was not to cooperate with them until further notice, and I don’t want you getting in trouble.”

“They relieved you of all official duties, and what you do in your spare time isn’t any of their business, is it?”

Her lips pulled into a beaming smile. “No, it isn’t.” She inched closer. “I love you more every day, you know that?”

He grinned. “I’m just trying to keep my camp in one piece without you dismantling everything you get your hands on.”

She nipped his lower lip, and then pulled him into a lingering kiss. The faint scent of motor oil and lemon shampoo filled his nostrils. An enticing mixture that definitely shouldn’t stir a physical reaction in him. When they broke apart, she brushed her nose against his. “I promise, tonight the hovercraft will be as good as new.”

“I expect at least a ten percent increase in air flow… Or whatever it was you were working on.”

“Yes, sir.” She stole another quick kiss before she straightened. “You want me to get you another pill for your headache?”

He sat back. Surprisingly, the dull pounding in his head had ceased. “It’s getting better. I think I’ll lay down for a moment. Who knows how much sleep I’ll get tonight.”

She gave him a soft smile. “Okay. Tell me if you need anything.”

“Will do. You have fun with the hovercraft. And remember, at seven we gotta leave for town to attend the team party at O’Malley’s.”

“I’ll be ready.” She grabbed a book from the shelf.

Smiling he watched her leave the cabin. How was it that whenever she entered it felt as though the sun were rising in his life? He glanced down at his hands and noticed faint black stains on them. Motor grease. Smirking he got up from the couch and picked one of the dirty towels out of the laundry basket next to the door. She truly was one in a million.

 

***

 

“This place hasn’t changed a bit.” Happiness tingled in Sam’s stomach as she looked around O’Malley’s. The bar room bustled with people. Some soldiers from camp that she knew, some new people who’d been assigned to the Stargate program, some townspeople.

“O’Neill.” A tall man approached them.

“Caldwell.” Jack shook his hand. “I didn’t know you’d arrived already.”

“Earlier today actually, but I’ll stay in a guesthouse in town until tomorrow.”

“Carter, you remember Steven Caldwell from resistance Cell 1?”

“Yes, good to see you again, sir.” She smiled at the colonel and shook his hand. Starting next week, he would be Jack’s second in command, and that made him her superior officer. Back on their first mission to the Aschen science fair in Powhatan, his gruff way of snapping orders at his people had intimidated her. Now she would have to learn to get along with him. 

“Aren’t you the one who messed up the mission in Powhatan a while back?”

Her cheeks flared. Oh wonderful, so he remembered that. “Yes, sir.”

To her surprise, Caldwell chuckled.

Smirking, Jack slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. “Took a while to straighten her out.”

“Hey.” She nudged him with a smile. “I wasn’t that bad.”

Caldwell’s eyes sparkled. “From what I heard, you beat up a commanding officer in your first month as a recruit. Don’t worry, I like spirited subordinates, Carter. And I think your mission to the Aschen homeworld makes up for any initial shortcomings. Dr. McKay says you’re a genius.”

“He does?” She held her breath. McKay rarely acknowledged the wits of anyone but himself.

“Yeah. The other day he admitted you were the smartest scientist he knew. After himself of course.”

“Of course.” She laughed.

“As long as you don’t try to beat me up, we’ll get along well.” He stretched his hand out to her.

“Yes, sir.” Smiling, Sam took it. Maybe he wasn’t as strict or scary as she’d thought. After all, many resistance members who didn’t know Jack thought of him as gruff and strict, too.

“Jack. Sam.” Sheppard’s voice drifted from somewhere. She turned. The younger colonel pushed through a group of soldiers, a grin on his face. “Wasn’t sure if you two were gonna make it on time after Sam took your hovercraft apart.”

Jack smacked Sheppard’s shoulder. “Oh, we did. She did a great job. Ours runs faster than yours now.”

She rolled her eyes with a laugh. The same old competition that they’d had going with the puddle jumper, when it was all about who’d break whose speed record. She glanced around the room. So many new faces. And so many old ones. She nodded towards Felger, Lee and Walter.

At a table close to the wall, McKay and Jennifer held hands while she whispered something in his ear that made them both laugh. They looked so happy. And Joe had kept his word about not forcing Jennifer into a relationship with him. Would he be here tonight?

Her stomach clenched. She hadn’t talked to Joe since the day she’d broken up with him. From what she heard, he and Jack got along well, but still, she wasn’t keen on the awkwardness that would undoubtedly ensue.

Sheppard’s laugh pulled her out of her thoughts. She turned her attention back to the conversation.

“So Jack, guess you’re off the market now. Means I have free range tonight,” Sheppard said, a twinkle in his eyes.

Jack’s face remained blank. “As long as you keep your hands off Carter, I don’t care what you do.”

“Actually, I set my eyes on the diplomat who arrived yesterday.”

“Elizabeth?” Sam turned to him. Who would have thought she’d be Sheppard’s type…

Sheppard nodded and took a sip from his beer. “Yeah. Already talked to her earlier. She’s cute. And smart.” He raised his brows. “Why, is she with someone?”

She shook her head. “Not that I know of, but I’ve only met her briefly. Daniel knows her better.”

“She’s a remarkable woman.” Caldwell turned and looked at Elizabeth Weir, who stood at the counter talking to one of the barkeeps.

Sheppard pointed the neck of his beer bottle at him. “Don’t even think about it.”

“What?” Caldwell raised his eyebrows and lifted his hands. “It’s not my fault if she’s interested in me.”

“Interested?” Sheppard scoffed. “She talked to you to introduce herself. _Talk_ being the operative word. There was no interest.”

“Oh God.” Sam chuckled. “I’m gonna grab a beer while you guys do your competition thing. Do we have a pool table?”

“Yeah,” Sheppard said. “Mal Doran and Jackson have been playing all evening. And he’s still losing.”

Jack scraped his hand through his hair. “Time to relieve poor Daniel of his torment.” He leaned in to Sam and nuzzled her cheek. “I’ll buy the drinks. You go save us seats upstairs in the lounge.”

“On the couch?” She pulled him close and cupped his face, their lips so close that their breaths mingled. “I’ll challenge you to a game of pool. You still owe me that rematch from last time.”

His eyes gleamed. “You think you got a chance this time?”

“I can try.” She bit his lower lip.

He swallowed visibly. “Keep doing that, and you’re gonna find yourself on the bed in one of the guesthouse rooms next door in a minute.”

She bit her lower lip on a chortle. “No self-control.”

“Oh really? We’ll see who of us has more self-control.”

“Bring it.”

God, she’d missed this place. The fun, the exuberance, the informalities. As though they’d never been gone.

“O’Neill. Sam.”

As Joe’s voice drifted from behind them, her stomach tightened. She turned and Jack lifted his head. Joe gave her a courteous nod, and then looked around. “So this is the place you told me about.”

Jack and Joe shook hands. Wow, awkward. She cleared her throat and swallowed hard when Joe turned to her.

Jack gave her arm a gentle squeeze. “I’m gonna go get our drinks. I’ll meet you upstairs?”

“I’ll be there in a moment.”

The hint of a smirk pulled at his mouth. “Don’t take too long, or I’ll have to play a game with Daniel.”

She stifled a chuckle and turned back to Joe. Their gazes locked.

“How are you?” she finally brought herself to ask after a long, awkward pause.

“Good. How are you?”

“Good. Great.”

A woman who had to be a few years older than her approached from behind. “I saved us seats near the wall over there.”

He turned and slipped his arm around her waist. “Sweetie, come here for a moment. I want you to meet a friend of mine.”

The woman turned and brushed a lock of her long black hair behind her ear as her gaze stopped on Sam.

Joe smiled. “Darla, this is Sam. Sam, Darla.”

“Sam Carter? It’s such a pleasure to meet you.” Darla’s dark eyes sparkled with excitement as she took Sam’s hand with both of hers. “In my village so many young women want to fight for a right to visit a university to become scientists because of you.”

Sam felt her cheeks warm. “Wow, that’s… I don’t know what to say.”

“You have no idea how much you inspired us. After we learned that a woman came up with idea of a virus that disabled the Aschen Stargate, we couldn’t believe it.”

“I… I didn’t do it by myself. A lot of people helped.”

“Yes, but you made a lot of us realize that we don’t have to be content with the roles society forces on us. We can be scientists too, if we want to be. Esepcially with the current situation.” She squeezed Sam’s hand again. “I can’t believe I’m actually meeting you.”

Joe chuckled. “Sam, I told you about Darla.”

She scrunched her brows, her gaze darting to him. He had?

“She’s the woman from my village whom I wanted to marry before I learned I was gifted.”

“Oh.” The knot in her stomach loosened. “Yes, of course.”

“After I signed the marriage contract with Jennifer, I searched for her.” Joe looked at Darla, a gentle expression on his face as he tangled his hand through her long hair. “I’m safe from remarriage for now, so Darla and I can be together even though she isn’t gifted.”

“I’m so happy for you.” Excitement flooded her. Joe had found the woman he once loved. And here she’d thought meeting him again would be awkward. “Jack told me you’re thinking about running for POA leader if we have elections.”

He nodded. “Somebody has to go up against Kinsey. And with the resistance behind me, I might have a chance.”

She waved at the stairs. “I’ve been challenged to a game of pool. Why don’t you guys join us?”

Darla’s face lit up. “Oh, I love pool.”

Sam’s amazement grew by the minute. “You know how to play?”

“Sure. In my village we play all the time. We have a barn which we use as a village meeting point in the evenings. There's dart games and a pool table. And usually lots of alcohol.” She flinched on a laugh.

“You’ll feel right at home here. Come on,” Sam said.

“Is it all right?” Darla looked at Joe.

“Sure, sweetie.”

When they entered the lounge upstairs, Daniel and Vala were just finishing a game. The lounge was still moderately empty, and Sam sat down on the corner part of the couch. Joe and Darla went over to some of the barstools. He whispered something in her ear that made her blush and giggle.

Who would have thought Joe would go back to his village to find the woman he’d once loved? A smile pulled at her lips. Maybe she’d been wrong. Maybe their revolution had changed things. Little changes, for now. But maybe those small ripples would grow bigger over time.

Her stomach tingled when Jack entered, two bottles in his hand. One beer and one soda. Eyes gleaming, he handed the beer to her as he sat down.

Half-kneeling on the couch, she turned to him. “You knew about Joe and Darla, didn’t you?”

Chuckling, he leaned in. “You think I would have left you two alone otherwise?” His breath washed warm down her neck.

She gave him a disbelieving look. “Don’t you trust me?”

“Oh, I trust you unconditionally. I wouldn’t have trusted him, though.” He nibbled her earlobe. “I have a policy not to leave my wife alone with a guy she… you know…”

She chuckled. “I happen to have the same policy.”

“Oh?”

“Just that given your history I’ll probably have a lot more to do keeping all those sexy women away from you.”

“Such as?” He searched her face.

“Kerry Johnson, for starters.”

His mouth pulled into a slow, lopsided smile, then he leaned in and buried his face in her neck. “Carter, I’m not interested in looking at other women as long as I get to look at you.” He dropped a searing kiss right under her ear.

She clasped at his shoulders and sighed. Her head swam with his scent and his warmth.

Abruptly, he got up from the couch and held his hand out to her. “Now, let’s see if I can kick your ass at pool.”

 

***

 

An abrupt movement next to her instantly pulled Sam out of her half-sleep. Jack sat up, his chest heaving, his skin covered in a soft sheen.

Drowsy, she sat up and nuzzled his neck. He wrapped his arm around her and clutched her to him, burying his face in her hair. They both remained still for a minute or so, until he released her. Without a word, he pulled open the curtain and slid out of bed. She sank down to the pillow and watched as he pulled on his pants and shoes. Then he left their cabin.

Yawning she turned onto her back and stretched. His behavior was nothing new.

When he had a nightmare, he needed to leave the house for a while to order his thoughts. Sometimes for ten minutes, sometimes half an hour. When he returned, he usually had two cups of coffee or tea—depending on what the nightshift in the kitchen had prepared—and they sat on the porch together until he felt ready to tell her about his memories.

She glanced at the clock.

_1:30am._

Early enough to get a few hours more sleep later.

She threw the covers back and shivered when the crisp air in the room hit her bare skin. She pulled a shirt over her head and opted for a comfortable pair of khakis.

When she stepped outside onto the porch, a cool breezed welcomed her. The ground shimmered in changing colors. Arms wrapped around herself, she lifted her gaze. Curtains of green and pink danced slowly across the sky with stars sparkling between them like tiny gems.

The aurora.

Smiling, she sat down on the stairs that led up to the porch and leaned her head against the wooden banister. As hostile and unpleasant as the climate of Antarctica was at times, moments like this made up for it.

Footsteps approached from somewhere. Her body tensed in intuitive alarm, but then relaxed when she recognized Jack. He carried two cups in his hands.

“Hey.” He handed one of the cups to her and sat down next to her on the steps.

They remained quiet for a long time. It wasn’t an awkward silence. They hardly ever were anymore with him. It was comfortable to be with someone without having to say anything.

She leaned her head against his shoulder, her gaze fixed on the sky as she warmed her fingers on the cup.

“One of these days, I’m gonna take you up in the jumper so we can watch we aurora from space,” he said.

“I’d love that.” She brushed her palm along his arm.

“Soothing, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” She closed her eyes. “I sometimes wonder if we destroyed paradise with our revolution, but in moments like these I know it was worth it.”

“Earth was never paradise.” He blew some air onto his steaming cup and then took a careful sip. “It may have looked like it was from a distance, but looks can be deceiving.”

She turned to him. “Do you sometimes wonder if…”

“What?” he asked, meeting her gaze. His eyes gleamed with tenderness.

“Earth may not have been paradise, but at least there was peace. We weren’t on the verge of a civil war. What if the POA is right? We call ourselves revolutionaries, but what if we really are terrorists?”

He kept his face blank.

Thoughtful, Sam looked back up at the sky, her fingers linking with Jack’s. “I just wonder how history will judge us. Will people in two-hundred or three-hundred years say we did the right thing? Will we be remembered as revolutionaries or terrorists? It’s such a fine line. Maybe there isn’t even a difference.”

He shrugged. “We are what we are. All we can ever do is follow our conscience. Earth wasn’t a peaceful planet before. The Aschen tried to destroy us slowly. Now we have a chance.”

“Do we?”

He wrapped his arm around her and chuckled. “Sometimes you gotta stick your fingers in your ears, hum loudly and wait. Things’ll get better by themselves. Give it a few months. Maybe half a year.”

She snuggled up against his warmth. “Everything is always so simple with you.”

Brows raised, he tangled his fingers in her hair. “Is that a good thing?”

“Oh yeah. You take the situation as it is and make the best of it.” She leaned her head on his shoulder. “It’s comforting and puts things back into perspective. It’s part of why I love you so much.”

He dropped a kiss on her forehead, and she closed her eyes. Maybe he was right, maybe they just had to wait it out.

After a long pause, he shifted and cleared his throat. Keeping his voice low, he began to talk. “So… earlier, I had this memory return…”

She linked their fingers when he started to talk.

Whatever the future would bring, they’d face it together.

They were free.

 

The End

 

Did you like this story? You can download it as an ebook with lost of bonus content on my website. 

The ebook includes: 

Full, unabridged version of Stargate Aschen  
First publication version (chapters 1 - 35)  
Aschen Universe Timeline  
Character Biographies  
Inside the Aschen Universe  
Artworks and Illustrations  
Password for Ebook-exclusive bonus content for download (wallpapers, etc.)

[Get the ebook now for free.](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/stargate-aschen-free-stargate-sg-1-ebook/)

**Author's Note:**

> Would you like to learn more about the Aschen universe? Check out the [Stargate Aschen timeline!](http://www.kimberley-jackson.com/timelines/aschen/)
> 
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